


Marble & Brimstone

by Karrie_luv



Category: Animation squad, TheOdd1sOut/SomethingElseYT(Romantic Pairing), YouTube Animations
Genre: Demons, M/M, Slow Burn, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21619960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karrie_luv/pseuds/Karrie_luv
Summary: James Rallison was the new kid at Laciest High School after his parents got a better job opportunity. Life at this high school seemed as great as it can get, until something, or rather someone, catches James's attention.Adam Ortiz, regular "lone wolf" of the school, draws in James's attention since the first moment they met, yet he had hatred for him for some unknown reason. That is, till after that one day something life changing happens, James does whatever he can to be friends with this strange boy, little does he know of the stranger's dark secret.LITTLE bit of a slow burn...Pairing: TheOdd1sOut x SomethingElseYT (Jadam)
Relationships: Adam Ortiz/James Rallison, TheOdd1sOut/SomethingElseYT
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	1. Better Opportunities

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for giving this story a shot, but I do want you to know that I will not be posting any warnings. This story includes many adult topics such as violence, blood, death, underage drinking and more.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this story :)

"We've been in this car for hours and I'm hungry. When are we getting out of this moving death trap?" Faith asked trying to fan herself with her hand, sweat beading on her hairline.

"Alright look, we're almost there. It's a few blocks away." James's mother said while using a pamphlet to fan herself in the humid car.

The Rallison's have been traveling for almost a whole day to move to their new home, where it seems to be hotter than hell itself, with a moving truck trailing behind them. The heat wouldn't have been a problem if Faith wasn't practicing her hot-wiring skills on their only car, which resulted in messing up the A/C controls in the process. Their parents were furious when they found out something messed up, blaming the car for being too old, but the only people that knew why were the twins James and Faith.

"Thank God, I just wanna get there and lie down for a bit. Who knew the car would be this cramped?" James questioned as he tried to stretch his long, cramped limbs. His stretching resulted in accidentally elbowing his older brother on the right side of his head.

"Ow! James! Goddamn it!" Luke snapped shoving his brother as best as he could in the confined area. "Luke! Language!" Their mother yelled from the passenger's seat, turning to glare at the oldest.

"He elbowed me!" Luke yelled back, sounding like a child.

"On accident!"

"You still elbowed me!"

"What part of 'accident' do you not understand?!"

"Shut up! You two are so _annoying!_ "

"Shut up faith, you're worse!"

"Real mature Luke! Why don't you act your age?!"

"Why don't you just shut up for a minute, you brat!"

"Enough!" Their mother yelled, immediately silencing the whole car. The three siblings drooped in their seats and didn't make eye contact with anyone. "Thank you." Their mom said breathing out in annoyance and turning to face her kids. "I know moving was a big change for you guys, but don't take out your anger on each other. I don't want to hear any more arguing from now on, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The three said in unison still not looking up at their furious mother. "Good." She sighed out before turning forward again. The silence in the car stretched for a while longer, no one talking and no music coming from the radio. The family car slowed down to a stop in front of a two-story house with a big front lawn.

Their new home.

"We're here." Their father announced while turning the ignition to shut off the car. The siblings practically shoved each other to get off the hot vehicle. "SWEET JESUS AM I HAPPY TO BE OUT OF THAT THING!" the oldest brother yelled while slumping onto the ground like the diva he was.

Faith and James rolled their eyes as they made their way to the back of the family car to take out their belongings. James started pulling out random bags and passed them to his twin, deciding it would be better to just take out everything all at once. The movers were already parked behind them loading in the stuff into their new house, taking in a couch between the two of the movers. James stopped on the front lawn as he looked at the new house he had yet to see. The two-story house was made entirely of brick with an amazing front porch that came with a rocking swing on the right side. The front door was white with a big stain glassed window in the dead center. The grass was a pretty shade of green and was covered by a few trees sprouting around in random places. And to top it off, there was a white picket fence that boarded around the patch of land. Basically, the house was beautiful.

"Come on Lames!" Faith said as she playfully nudged his shoulder with her own, laughing at her nickname for her brother. James snapped out of the trance and followed her up the porch steps then into the new house. James was more amazed by the beauty of the inside of the house. "I call the second biggest room!" Luke yelled before running up the stairs. Faith and James cursed mentally while dropping their bags and running behind the older brother. Luke was already in the last room as he yelled loudly, "Dibs!"

James not even thinking about it, ran into a random room, looked quickly then poked his head out the door, "Dibs!" He heard his sister groan loudly accompanied by some stomping on the wooded floor. "Dibs!" Faith said loudly but not as enthusiastic as her brothers. A pang of sympathy flooded through James but it all went away when he saw he got a decent bedroom with navy colored walls and a window with a seat attached right under it.

_Oh yeah, I can be really Tumblr and be a cool kid._

James laughed at his stupid remark while shaking his head. Taking one last look at the room, he made his way downstairs to gather up his belongings, that were laying on the floor next to all of Faith's stuff. As he picked up his bags, his father walked in with some furniture in his arms.

"Hey dad, we decided on which rooms we wanted," James said as a heads up. His father only let out a grunt, confirming he understood what he said. The blonde made his way back up to his new room with his belongings in his arms and began working.

*****

James fell backward onto his bed, exhausted from moving his room around the way he wanted it to be. For six hours, James had been hanging his clothes in the closet, hanging his favorite posters on the walls, and cleaning up as well, not to mention he was starving. His stomach growled at the thought of food, the noise sounding loud in the quiet room. He stood up from his bed, muscles still exhausted, and made his way downstairs. When he reached down, he flicked on the kitchen lights and walked over to the fridge. Seeing it was kinda late, James decided that it would be best if he just got a fruit or something small till his mom cooked something. 

After pulling out an apple, James turned to go up the stairs when something caught his eye outside of their back door made of mostly glass. A pair of eyes were staring back at him. Slightly shocked by the eyes, James placed the apple on the kitchen island before walking over to the door and slid it open. Looking down he saw the cutest, collarless black cat he had ever seen.

"Hey, buddy. Whatcha doin' around here?" He asked while squatting in front of the black animal. The cat only sat there, looking into his eyes, before getting up and strutting over to him. James flinched when the cat slammed itself quite hard against his leg, purring as it rubbed into him. He cooed at the feline before scratching it behind its ears, the cat meowing its approval. "As cute as you are, you should get outta here buddy, my sister is allergic to cats." James explained still scratching the cat.

The cat looked up and stood on two paws, one paw resting on James's knee as it used the other one to boop the blonde's nose. It was at that moment when James fell in love. He stood up quickly then went back into the kitchen, grabbing a small bowl then made his way back over to the fridge. He grabbed a gallon of milk and poured a healthy amount into the bowl. Without spilling any, James approached the cat still sitting outside and placed the bowl in front of it. The feline automatically went straight to the bowl and started drinking like there was no tomorrow. James ran his hands along its back before standing up again.

"If you come again tomorrow, I'll give you something better." The cat looked up at the tall boy and just meowed before going back to finishing its milk. James smiled then walked back into his house, locking the door behind him. He flicked off the light and let out a long yawn while making his way up the stairs, his eyes suddenly getting heavy. He can skip dinner, he's more tired than hungry now.

When he finally arrived at his door, he turned the knob and walked in. The boy immediately shut the lights off, blindingly walked towards his bed, and fell back onto it, not hesitating to quickly crawl under the covers. The silence is the only thing that was heard as it lulled James to sleep, the day's stress vanishing as soon as he fell into darkness.


	2. Laciest High School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters might be short in the beginning, but after a while, they will get longer. Promise
> 
> Enjoy :)

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_James opened his eyes when he heard the echoing noise. He looked around hoping to find the source of the dripping sound, but only found nothing but darkness for miles._

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_A dark chuckle made James jump slightly along with him turning a full 360 degrees, now looking for the owner of the thing that made the noise. It sounded like a man had chuckled._

_"The more you have of me.." The voice announced in a chilling whisper right behind James. The boy turned quickly, hoping to finally see a face, but didn't find anything._   
_"The less..." The voice was now right next to James, the cold breath making the boy still. Ever so slightly, James turned and saw what seemed to be a man covered in shiny black oil, only he didn't have eyes or a definitive facial structure._

_"You see!" The man yelled before jumping at James with outstretched arms._

The alarm noises pulled James out of the horrid nightmare, his shirt clinging to his sweat covered body. Same old repetitive dream. Whether the sweat was from the nightmare or the heat of his room, James didn't care as he got his items ready for him to shower. He gathered everything and walked to the hall bathroom, thankful nobody was using it at the moment. With a sigh of relief, James locked the door behind him and immediately took off his shirt. He reached his hand out to turn the knob of the shower and turned it to the hottest setting and waited for it to warm up. While waiting, James looked into the mirror and examined his body.

His flat stomach looked extremely white with a small patch of dark blonde hair on his happy trail. His eyes wandered up to his chest when he saw the familiar birthmark resting on his chest. James looked away when he saw steam coming out from behind the curtain, before quickly stripping down naked and sliding under the showerhead. He was out within ten minutes then changed into his clothes and brushed his teeth when he was done. 

He left the restroom and started his way downstairs towards the kitchen hoping that there was still some sugary cereal left for him. He pulled back the cabinet doors and automatically saw the colorful cereal box. James grabbed the box and shook it, letting out a happy (manly) squeal and pulled out the milk from the fridge. Looking at the milk, James remembered the cat. 

It's been two days since they moved here and the cat has been coming at night to visit James as if it knew James would love having it around. He fixed his bowl of cereal and started eating when he heard someone entering the restroom he just left. While eating his cereal, James scrolled on his phone, seeing what was new on his social media. Other than a few celebrity photos and a 15-year long show coming to an end, nothing eventful has been happening in the world. The teen pocketed the phone after half an hour and washed his dish when he heard two pairs of feet trudging downstairs. He first saw his sister than his brother as they both walked into the kitchen.

"Did you save me any?" Faith asked as she gestured the box, a yawn escaping while she asked. "Umm, there's only enough for one more person," James said. Faith's eyes bulged and Luke stilled, both turning to look at one another. Simultaneously, the siblings raised their hands and drew a quick game of Paper, Rock, Scissors. It went on for fifteen seconds before Luke won, a gleeful sound leaving his mouth as he fist-bumped the air. Faith just groaned and walked to the fridge, pulling out some yogurt instead.

James laughed at his siblings' antics, knowing that Faith will get something better in the future, maybe like the last pop-tart. After Luke was done eating, their mom came downstairs and told the others to get on the car so they can make their way to school.

  
*****

The day felt humid as the three siblings looked up at the new high school that they'll be attending for the next two years (one in Luke's case). Faith was the first of the three to move, walking through the doors of the school. Luke and James followed shortly after, both of them snapping out of the stunned silence seeing both were in awe of the beautiful school. This new school was about three times bigger compared to the one back in their old home, just huge.

The siblings made their way to the front office and stood in front of the window waiting for the Secretary to acknowledge them. After a few seconds, she looked up and wore a shocked expression on her wrinkled face. "Oh! I'm sorry Dearies, I didn't see you there. What can I do for you?" She asked in a sweet tone. Her sweet tone matched the way she looked. She was a bit on the older side, nearing the age of sixty and wore a polka-dot dress with a beehive hairstyle and red glasses. She looked like she came out of the seventies.

"We are the new students enrolling today. We need our schedules for the year." Luke announced with a friendly smile.

"Oh! And what are your names and I.D numbers?" The secretary asked as she clicked on something on her computer. Her hands positioned over the keyboard as she waited for one of us to answer her question. The three of them gave their names and numbers respectively after each other. The secretary nodded with every new information then proceeded to print out three separate sheets. She announced their names one by one before handing them their printed schedules, stating that if they had any questions, to ask whatever security guard was nearby. James looked around the school, and sure enough, two security guards were talking to each other as they turned into a hall with the letter 'D' on top of the entrance and another one exiting the bathroom.

"Thank you, ma'am. Have a nice day." Faith said with a fake smile before walking away with her two brothers. As they walked down the main hall, the last bell rang, signaling the start of their first period. The three compared their schedules, which they noticed they all had different classes with totally different halls. The only thing they got was Faith and Luke had A-Lunch while James was stuck alone in B-Lunch.

"Great, I'm going to be alone all day." James groaned while letting his arms fall to his sides, quite annoyed with life. "Just make some friends dude, it can't be that hard." Luke said looking at his phone not looking at James once. James rolled his eyes before picking up his schedule again.

  
Robert James Rallison  
078456  
1st: Spanish III  
2nd: English II  
3rd: PE  
4th: Lunch  
5th: Algebra 2  
6th: Theater Arts

  
"Guess I'm going to head out to class already guys," James announced looking up from the paper. Faith and Luke both agreed that they were as well. "Okay, we meet here at the end of the day," Luke said while walking backwards to look for his first period. "Have a good day guys." Faith said before disappearing quickly. James stood alone in the hall, feeling nervous all over again as he looked at his schedule once more. 

_Spanish III. B-4_

James's eyes left the paper as he started walking down the halls, looking for his way to his first period.

  
*****

After 10 minutes of being lost and finally gathering the courage to ask for some help from a friendly security guard, James finally walked up a flight of stairs to his first period and knocked on the door. The door opened a few seconds later, showing a pregnant woman with a long dress and dark skin. " _Buenos dias. Con que te puedo ayudar?_ " She asked with a genuine smile on her face.

"I'm the new student?" James stated in a questioning tone, trying not to look down at the woman's stomach. "May I see your schedule?" The teacher asked while stretching out her hand, a bit of an accent appearing in her voice. James placed his schedule in her hands before looking into the classroom slightly. The room was filled with multiple students that were on their phones while the teacher dealt with him, all except a few curious faces looking his way.

"Ah, Sr. Rallison. Yes okay. _Pasale._ Come in." She moved aside then gave him his schedule. James took the paper and walked passed through the door. His eyes roamed the room as he looked for an empty seat to take. The only one was next to a blonde boy who was looking at his phone. "Please take a seat, Sr. James. You just came in on time for today's lecture." James nodded at the teacher, not trusting his mouth to say anything.

James walked down the row, making his way towards the empty spot. He carefully placed his backpack down then sat in the seat that connected to the desk. "Very well. Alright class, may you please open your books to page _treinta y dos_." The teacher announced while turning her back and walking to the whiteboard. James sat in his seat confused on what page the teacher wanted them on. He also didn't want to look at another student's book, making the others think he was dumb.

"Page thirty-two." A voice whispered. James's eyes widened as he looked around, expecting someone to meet his eyes. He did eventually, his eyes met a pair of brown ones, they belonged to the blonde boy that was on his phone. James grabbed the book sitting under his desk basket and quickly flipped to page thirty-two, which had a photo of a smiling little girl that was missing one of her centrals. "Thanks," James whispered before looking back up to the whiteboard, where the teacher was writing and talking in Spanish, talking about the assignment they are about to do.

"No problem." The boy answered back while writing some notes on his spiral. James pulled out his own and started copying down everything the teacher had written. After a while, he grew a bit bored and started doodling his character. The character, or Oddball, was currently sitting in the witness bench with a long microphone, and a bubble above its head asking, 'Can we go to wecess?' 

"Hey, that's a pretty cool doodle." Someone commented in a quiet voice. James turned his head to look at the boy next to him, his eyes looking at Oddball. "Um, yeah. Thanks..." James said in an awkward tone, scratching his cheek out of nervous habit. They fell back into silence, the teacher going on about an apparent assignment they had to do individually and quietly.

"What are we doing?" James asked the boy. The boy looked at the board and squinted, reading the foreign words that James did not understand. "Go to page forty and answer the questions in Spanish on a separate sheet of paper. Then turn it in on to the teacher."

"Thank you, uh-?"

"TJ."

"Hi TJ. I'm, uh, James."


	3. Uncertain

Throughout their first period, James and TJ talked and soon figured out their schedules were almost identical. They had first, second, lunch, and fifth together. After their first period was over, they walked together to their next class, which wasn't a problem for James since he still needed a guide. As they walked, James was more awkward than normal, thankful he met TJ but also a bit reluctant about their friendship. He doesn't really know this kid. He seemed nice enough, but there's always something wrong with everyone. 

Or maybe he's just too paranoid.

They walk through the door of their English II and immediately took their seats side by side. The classroom was rather empty as they still had two minutes until the bell rang. "So what was it like back at your other school?" TJ asked while waiting for class to start, going through his backpack in the process.

James thought about the question, for a moment, trying to think of a word, to sum up his old school. His school was a bit similar to High School Musical, just minus the singing. Everyone had a place somewhere, there was a queen bee and a feared bully. It was a very stereotypical school that James never really took into consideration.

"White." James blurted out as a joke, immediately feeling guilty after it left his mouth. TJ didn't seem to notice the boy's guilt because he was too busy laughing at James' terrible joke. James forced a laugh as TJ wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "I did not expect you to say that. I was expecting literally any other response, but white? Wow. That's a new one. But anyway, I have a feeling this school will be much better than your old one." James was about to respond but was silenced when their teacher started the lecture. 

James was thankful that the teachers haven't called him out and made him introduce him or something dumb like that, he much preferred to have as little attention drawn to him as possible.

While the class was doing vocabulary and talking quietly among themselves, TJ turned to James with a realization dawning on him. "I just remembered that you don't have anybody to sit with at lunch, right?" James automatically nodded, thinking about his siblings but that thought soon died when he remembered their schedules. James shook his head with a pink tint spread on his face.

"Okay, well you can sit with my group if you want! They're all great people and funny too. I can introduce you to them if you're comfortable with it." TJ said as he raised both his hands as if he were surrendering. 

"I wouldn't want to bother anyone," James said while leaning back into his chair. "Trust me, you won't bother anyone. If anything, we'll probably be the ones bothering you. We tend to get annoying sometimes, not gonna lie." TJ said with a fond smile plastered on his face.

James thought it over a bit. Faith and Luke had a different lunch than he did, and he doesn't know anyone here. He might not know TJ all that much, but he seems relatively cool. What does he have to lose? "Um, that would be fine then." 

"Awesome! You're going to love them, I swear!"

  
*****

  
The bell rang for their third period, both boys standing from their desks and exiting the classroom. "What class did you have right now?" T.J. asked as they walked through the crowded halls. James reached for his schedule, not looking where he was going as a body slammed into his own, knocking the blonde to the ground.

"Watch where you're going next time, kid." James looked up and saw a dark-skinned boy with a lighter-skinned girl clutching to his side, giggling as she stared down at James. "Fuck off Hunter," TJ said as he extended a hand to James. The blonde took his hand and was raised by the other boy, turning to look at the new person.

"Standing up for your little boyfriend, Tristan? Gonna go make out with him in a bathroom stall like the faggot you are?" Hunter said in a teasing tone, the girl at his side making a pouty face as he said it.

"You sound like you don't like the concept when I'm sure you'd enjoy watching. Now if you'll excuse us, my friend and I are late for class." TJ said with a smile before dragging James away by his arm, who was in shock on what just happened. Did James just meet a bully? Is he gonna be a regular target now? Who was that giggling bitch? TJ's name is Tristan?

"So, what class?"

It took James a few seconds to understand what TJ was asking. He unfolded the paper and looked at the printed words, which turned out to be quite dreadful. "Coach Roth for P.E." James groaned out loud almost rolling his eyes enough for them to stay stuck looking at his brain. James had this bad luck of getting the non-athletic trait in the family, the athletic traits went fully to Luke and partially to Faith. James couldn't even kick a ball without getting winded.

TJ laughed out as he turned sharply towards an exit, pushing the door and walking towards a separate building from the main one. "Of course. You're gonna have fun in there." TJ said sarcastically with a smile. James wanted nothing more than to bang his head against the pavement, but he knew he needed a P.E. credit to graduate.  
The bell rang and TJ looked shocked for a second. "Ah, shit! I'm late! I gotta go, dude. Just go past the bleachers, through the doors, and into the 'BOYS' door." TJ was talking while walking/speed walking back towards the main building.

"Thanks, TJ!" James said but didn't think TJ heard as he turned and ran through the double doors. 

James looked back at the gym and sighed. He hated this already and he hasn't started. Grumbling a bit, he walked past the doors and took in the sight of the gym.  
The gym was covered in a light blue and black coloring everywhere, with motivational posters for the school teams and their mascot. The basketball court was waxed and the bleachers were tucked in, not going to be used any time soon. Blue and black went pretty well together, it was a bit relaxing. As James was taking in the sight, the doors he was supposed to go through slammed open with followed by many high school boys running out wearing the same uniform and yelling like there was no tomorrow. They had a blue shirt tucked into some black basketball shorts, both with the words 'Laciest High School' scrawled on them. The boys started to jump on each other's backs and put each other in headlocks, all with loud laughs escaping each of their mouths. This class seemed... Loud.

"Hey, kid." A deep voice yelled. James looked away from what seemed to be his classmates and turned to the voice. There stood a tall man with a similar style to the boys the only difference was the shorts weren't basketball shorts, but black cargo shorts. The whistle hanging from his neck was another difference. "Come over here. Boys, bring out the racks and put on a cup! You're playing dodgeball." The coach said loudly. The boys all exclaimed and went in separate directions while James scurried over and stood in front of the man. Up close, James can see the man's scarily green eyes piercing into his soul and his dirty blonde hair styled up with a lot of hair product. James learned about this on Sherlock once.

_Product in the hair and tight clothes, he's gay! Gosh, I gotta stop watching that show._

"Why aren't you dressed out kid?" The coach asked in a quieter voice now that they were closer.

"I, um, I'm new," James said as he handed the schedule to the man. He grabbed the paper and looked it over with the sweep of his eyes. "Seems you are. I'm coach Roth. Come with me, I'll get you your gear." Coach Roth said before handing James his schedule and going through the doors. James trailed behind him mentally scolding himself for those horrible deductions. 

_He's not even gay._

_Bi-curious at most._

*****

"This will be your locker for this year. Your combination is on this paper and you'll change into these every day and wash them on the weekends. You can use the showers, but you need to bring your own towel and shampoo. You have any questions you ask me. Got it?" James took in all the information he was given and nodded his head. Both he and the coach stood in front of his new locker that was in the corner facing the entrance of the mouth of the locker room door.

"Good. Now change up and meet us in the gym." The coach span around and left the now empty locker room. The blonde sighed as he looked at the combination and started turning the lock dial. When it opened, he started taking off his shoes and pants, placing the pants into the locker, and pulling up the shorts. As he pulled up his clothes, he began to feel the dread from the game.

_I'm not in the mood to be pounded alive by a bunch of huge, red, hard balls._ James thought about what he just thought. "No homo." He whispered to himself, chuckling at nothing.

He pulled off his shirt but was startled when he heard the locker room door open. He turned and saw a new person to walk passed the entrance of the room. The boy froze in his tracks when he saw James, who was still very shirtless and very confused.

The boy was on the tall side, his slightly darker tone and black hair was a contrast to James's white skin and blonde hair. He wore a backward snapback, a black military jacket with a few random patches with a patch that said 'Ortiz' on his left breastplate and black skinny jeans. "What are you still doing here?" The boy asked with a sneer, his voice seemingly deeper than the coach's.

James blinked. "I'm sorry?" James asked in a confused voice. The boy started gradually stepping towards James, almost predatorial. "I don't like repeating myself. No one is supposed to be in here." The boy said now annoyed and a foot in front of James, who was slightly fearful of this boy's unknown intentions and annoyed at the same time. "Now answer the question or you'll see what happens when you don't."

"I'm the new kid. I was late because a douchebag decided to threaten me for accidentally running into him and his whore. I thought the doucheness would stop there, but no, it seems like I have to deal with more of it right in front of me." James said as he crossed his arms over his chest and huffing. Honestly, James did not know where this confidence came from, but he's glad he has it or he'd be pissing himself right now.

'Ortiz' stepped closer to James with a raised eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Pray tell, explain what it is you mean." He rested his hands on the lockers, cornering James against them, the cold metal digging into the blonde's warm back. "It can't possibly be me, Sweetheart. I haven't done anything other than ask a simple question." The other boy purred into their shared air space.

James frowned as he looked into the other's eyes who was only a few inches away, seeing nothing but empty in the pair of browns. James felt his heart rate increase a small bit but kept his face neutral. "Ah, but it is. You see, you did ask the question, but in the process, basically threatened me and that's not very chivalrous of you to do... Sweetheart." James is scared now, he doesn't know where any of this is coming from and he can't stop himself.

The boy looked into James's eyes one more time before stepping back and smirking while shaking his head slightly. "I like your style, not a blubbering idiot like others and you kept your ground. Now change and get out, Roth will make you do up-downs if he thinks you're trying to skip his class." The boy looked at him one more time before walking away towards the toilet stalls. James only stared at the other boy, beyond confused about what just happened. They basically got in each other's bubbles, had a staring contest, and possibly almost threw hands just because James was still in the locker room.

_Holy shit. Today is turning out to be so weird._ James thought as he put on the rest of his gear and stepped out of the locker room.


	4. Eventful

The laughter of the rowdy boys bounced off the lockers as James peeled the sweaty shirt off his shoulders. His back and stomach were covered in a red tint, and his legs were already getting sore. The game of dodgeball went much worse than James thought. He hoped and prayed they would go easy on the new kid, but nope, they were monsters. They didn't care who they hit, as long as they were on the other side of the line. James balled up the sweaty shirt and tossed it into his locker, his arms wanting to shut down from all his horrible, but attentive, throws. He felt kind of gross knowing he couldn't really shower without at least a towel. He's gonna stink all day on his first day and he didn't want to be known as the stinky new kid. His first impression at the table is not going to be a very pleasant one.

"Baby wipe?" James froze when he heard the question, not really knowing if that was directed towards him. "Yeah Tyro, I'm talking to you." James' brows furrowed as he turned away from his locker, his eyes crossing as they landed on a box of baby wipes two inches in front of his face. "Figured you want to use them." James grabbed the box and lowered them from his view, only for his heart to speed up a tiny bit. 'Ortiz' stood three feet away from James, still wearing the clothes he had on earlier, both his hands tucked into his back pockets and a smirk etched on his face. The noise had gone down tremendously due to the fact that most of the boys rushed to get their clothes on and were waiting for the bell to ring in the gym.

"What? No 'Thank You' for the wipes?" He asked in a teasing tone. James rolled his eyes and leaned back against the locker, momentarily forgetting that his back was still very sweaty and the lockers were literal blocks of ice. "I don't know, do you really deserve a 'Thank You' after threatening me?" James asked in a hushed tone, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Aww, you still mad about that? That was half an hour ago, Sweetheart. Forgive and forget, right?" Adam purred. James rolled his eyes and pulled out a wipe from the box, immediately rubbing it along his neck and shoulders. "Why do you keep calling me Sweetheart? I find it annoying." James said not acknowledging the other's previous statement. The dark-haired boy smirked again as he followed James's hand movements, the touch lazy but still firm and cleaning the blonde's body. "I could always call you something else. Like 'Baby Boy' or 'Princess'. Or maybe even my personal favorite," Adam took the wipe out of James's hand and rubbed the blonde's neck then dragged it up to his cheek, in a very intimate way in which James couldn't help but shiver. "'Angel.'" 

"Or..." James began firmly, "Or maybe you can call me by my real name." James said with annoyance as he pushed the other's hand away, feeling the cold air hit his face in the area the wet wipe was dragged across.

The other boy smiled at his response before replying himself, "And what is your name? I didn't get the pleasure of knowing it." 

"I'll tell you mine if I hear yours first," James shot back in a confident voice as he grabbed his regular shirt and held it in his hands. The boy stared at James with a look he couldn't read, but he was glad it wasn't that stupid smirk he seemed to always wear. 

After a couple of seconds of silence, the other boy nodded before speaking. "Adam Ortiz." The boy said as he stuck out his hand in James' direction. James looked at his hand before slowly reaching out and grabbing it, ignoring the heat he felt in between their palms.

"James Rallison," James said as he shook Adam's hand reluctantly. Right when James was about to draw his hand back, Adam pulled his hands to his lips and planted a quick kiss before letting his hand go. James felt the heat of a blush rush to his cheeks as he pulled his hand protectively to his chest. "Just a joke." Adam chuckled with a wink. James stared at Adam, he was so glad the room was mostly empty now.

"You do flirt an awful lot, don't you?" James said as he turned towards his locker and pulled on the dry shirt. Although his body was still moist, he didn't really care because now he doesn't smell like sweat. It was strangely quiet as James pulled out his backpack from the locker and closed it. Confused, James turned around only to find an empty spot in front of him. James looked around the room, expecting to see Adam resting against the wall or something, but he was completely alone. He didn't even hear Adam move, he's going deaf now. 

Great, blind _and_ deaf.

As soon as he pulled the shoulder strap of his backpack up, the bell rang, signaling the start of his lunch period. James looked around the room one last time, still thinking Adam was joking and pop out while saying something stupid. When he knew nothing was going to happen, James shrugged and walked out of the locker room door.

*****

After following his P.E. class, James was lead to the huge cafeteria filled to the brim with various students. He scanned the area, hoping to find TJ in the big crowd of hormonal teens when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders. On instinct, James grabbed one of the hands, twisted it behind the person's back, and pushed him against the wall. 

"Whoa whoa, dude chill! It's me!" TJ said with his face squished against the wall. James' eyes widened and he immediately let go of his new friend- er, acquaintance. "I am _so_ sorry TJ, it's a habit." James apologized as he looked down to the floor, regret evident in his voice.

TJ backed away from the wall and turned to James with a smile on his face. "Well, that's a cool habit! That was totally awesome!" James looked up and met TJ's eyes. "You aren't mad that I just shoved you against the wall like a rag doll?"

"No, why would I? Self-defense." TJ answered before walking away, expecting James to follow him, which he did after two steps. "Where'd you learn that anyway?" 

"My dad had taught my sister and me how to defend ourselves properly since we were eight and I was in a karate class for three years. Fun fact: I made the mistake of using my powers for bad and ended up getting detention for two weeks in my elementary school after I flipped an annoying kid." James thought back to that kid, who ended up being a really good friend of his for some years until he moved, and smiled. Memories flashed through his mind as he realized that he missed their wrestling and racing and everything. He missed his old friend.

TJ laughed at James' story as they made a line for their lunch. "Holy crap, that's more of a reason for me not to get on your bad side." TJ joked.

"My bad side involves a lot of pain and death!" James joked back with his best impression of a British accent, which was still quite terrible. Both boys chuckled as they entered their school I.D's into the computer and turned to leave the lunch line, trays in their hands. "How was your P.E. class? I can imagine those psychos didn't go easy on you?" TJ asked as he directed them through the various tables and stepped outside of the cafeteria. James immediately thought of Adam but quickly shook him out of his mind.

"I don't think they have any sort of mercy in their body, man. I was scared for my life and I left in pain. I am ninety-eight percent sure I am going to bruise up like a banana." TJ laughed at James and led him towards a fairly big table in the pavilion, a few students sitting on the seats already. James felt a knot start forming in his stomach. He didn't know these people, they might not even like him and he's joining their table unbeknownst to them. 

"You'll be fine, man. They'll like you." TJ said as he grabbed James's shoulder in reassurance. James forced a smile and continued walking alongside him. 

"Hey guys!" TJ exclaimed not even a foot away from the table. The students looked up and smiled as they saw him. "TJ! What up hoe?" A boy with quiffed up brown hair said loudly. TJ laughed as he placed his tray on the table. 

"Guys this is James, the new student attending Laciest, be nice. I'm talking to you, Tim." TJ said while scolding the boy who just called him a 'hoe'. James smiled as Tim flipped him off before turning to look at James. "Go ahead and sit down James, we don't bite." 

"Speak for yourself, Tim!" A girl with brown hair joked in a teasing voice, winking at James. The latter's face heated up at her comment as he slowly sat next to TJ. "Stop it Beck you're scaring him!" Another boy with an Australian accent said as he playfully swatted her in the back of her head. "Anyways, hi James, I'm Maaz." The boy said as he held out his fist for James to bump with, which he did. "My name is Alex." a boy with hair similar to Tim's said with less enthusiasm.

"I'm Rebecca! Single and ready to mingle!" Rebecca did an exaggerated wink as she said that. James felt really awkward around her, maybe he should keep his distance for now.

"I'm Tim, leader of the group," Tim announced with a charming smile. All the students in the table burst out laughing at his remark. "Uh, yeah no. If anyone were to be the leader of the group-"

"It would be me." A tray slammed onto the table, right across from James, making him jump slightly. He looked up and saw a pair of unforgiving eyes, brown and full of an emotion James couldn't quite put his finger on. "This here is Jaiden, alpha of the group." TJ chimed in with a smile on his face. Jaiden didn't look away from James as they had a sort of staring contest. The table fell silent as they just observed the two stare at the other. "Jay?" 

Jaiden slowly looked away from James and looked directly into TJ's eyes. "Yes?" Her voice changed drastically from cold to warm. The table was still quiet, all of them still looking at Jaiden, wondering about her behavior.

"Do you know James?" 

"No. I don't."

"Are you sure? Becau-"

"I don't, okay? I just thought," Jaiden sighed as she sat down onto her spot. "Doesn't matter what I thought, just drop it." Everybody looked at each other and back at James, all of them with a look of confusion on their faces. 

"Anyway..." A voice loudly interrupted. "How was y'alls day?" Tim asked trying to break the ice a bit. James slouched in his seat, not making eye contact with anyone as they started to ramble on about their classes and annoying encounters with teachers/other students.

So much for being liked by everyone in the group.


	5. Burning Hatred

After a couple of minutes of conversation, the table seemed to forget about the uncomfortable incident that took place and moved on to more lighthearted jokes and topics. The conversations that took place involved random memories that happened recently or even stories that played out from their past, it didn't seem to matter as long as they were all laughing about it. The previously awkward atmosphere was shifted into a warmer one with giggles and happiness.

James was eating his food, which wasn't really the best, when he actually began to pay attention to every person sitting at the round table. His eyes landed on Tim and Alex, who wore almost identical smiles on their faces, both so bright and full of life with their straight white teeth showing (maybe in another life, they could've been twins or something). TJ was laughing loudly at a joke that was said, all while he was smacking the table with his hand, gasping for the absent air that was needed for his lungs. Beck was laughing at TJ's reaction, a bit of concern mixed in into her joyous laugh. Maaz had his hand over his chest as he tried to get air into his lungs as well, all the laughing making him go red in the face. As for Jaiden, she sat back and watched her group all laugh out, smiling at the people in her lunch group and not once touching the horrible school food. Which is understandable. James realized, that this here table had a good relationship with each other. You can tell with one look, that they all love each other, something that James didn't see often anywhere, much less where he came from. He hoped he'd be apart of this table for the rest of his school years because he wants friends as friendly as these guys.

Well, most of them.

As James looked around the different faces, cherishing every reaction he saw, he made direct eye contact with Jaiden who had an unforgiving look in her eyes. She seemed to be studying James and silently judging everything he did, making James squirm in his seat slightly.

 _What did I do to piss her off? I didn't even_ talk _to her._

"Yeah, then I heard Daniel tell him with his most threatening voice, 'Shut up Phil before I kiss you!' You should've seen everybody's faces!" Alex chuckled, bringing James and Jaiden out of their second staring contest, James really confused on what conversation he just fell into. Before any more questions could be asked, the annoying bell shrieked, signaling everybody had five minutes to get to their fifth period. Everybody at the table groaned, James included, as they stood up and gathered their trash, not really wanting to go to class.

After cleaning their mess, they all said their goodbyes as TJ, James, and Beck all made their way towards their shared fifth period, a different conversation striking up between the three as they walked. "So Mr. Nantoka isn't necessarily a hard teacher, he has easy work, but he is a bit boring to listen to," TJ explained as they walked down the crowded halls. He caught a glimpse of Hunter making out with his girlfriend against one of the walls in the open while people walked past them trying not to acknowledge them. With a disgusted glance, James kept walking but wanted nothing more than to separate them because that's just uncomfortable to see. No one wants to see a dude shove his tongue down some skank's throat in the middle of the hall. As he passed many faceless and nameless students, there were many different and random conversations James was hearing that made him question their sanity. One quote he actually heard the loudest was, "From rags to riches, she's the baddest of-"

"Yeah, there was one time he bored the whole class so bad to the point where they all fell asleep. You could imagine his surprise when he turned to look at us and saw everyone's heads were down and drooling on the desk. That shit was beyond hilarious!" Beck added in with humor in her voice, not even looking up from her smartphone as she said that, following them blindly. James inwardly groaned thinking about how boring this class is going to be. Oh well, at least he had some friends in there, so it probably won't be that unbearable.

The three continued talking even after they walked through the classroom door, barely making it before the bell rang. The classroom was bare with white walls and no posters or color whatsoever. Their previous conversation seemed to screech to a halt as something dawned on TJ's face.

"What's up?" James asked his friend, not wanting to show much of his worry just yet.

"There's no empty seat next to us, James," TJ said. James saw the guilt on both Beck and TJ's face. The blonde's heart rate elevated at the thought of having to talk to new people and immediately tried to calm himself down. As much as he doesn't like talking to new people, he isn't about to be a dingwad and ask someone to move from their already permanent seat that they've had since the beginning of the semester, just to sit next to his friends (also because they probably won't move anyways). "Oh, um, that's not really a problem. I still know you guys, so nothing's wrong if I have to sit away from you." He answered with little to no emotion in his voice.

"Please take your seats, the lecture is about to begin." A balding teacher with a dead expression appeared out of thin air behind the three, startling them slightly. "Yes, Mr. Nantoka." TJ and Beck said before motioning James to the empty seat somewhere in the back left corner. The blonde nodded his head before walking to the seat. 

"Alright welcome to class. Today we are going to be talking about differences of squares." Mr. Nantoka's monotone voice droned on as he turned around to write random shapes and numbers on the whiteboard as James's butt hit the seat below him. Just by the sound of Nantoka's voice, James had a feeling that he wasn't going to survive this class for the next three months. Mr. Nantoka was writing on the board as James pulled out a spiral from his back before he heard it. 

"Hiya Princess."

James froze in his seat, his hand gripping the spiral hard, annoyance beginning to cloud his mind.

_Don't tell me..._

James turned his head slightly and saw a familiar set of eyes looking back at him. There sat Adam Ortiz, the boy James was hoping he wouldn't see after their P.E. period. Apparently his luck ran out quite quickly. "God hates me," James said out loud as he slammed his spiral onto the desk a little too loudly and dragged a hand over his face. Adam chuckled, the sound annoying James more than it should've.

"Aww, don't be like that Sweetheart. Smile for once. I wanna see what a smile would look like on that pretty face." James pulled his hand away and looked over to Adam, annoyance and hatred still flooding his system. James isn't one for hating people all that much unless they've molested someone or something of the sorts, so it really is weird knowing there's a sense of hatred for this boy for whatever unknown reason. He really should figure out why he hates Adam so much, just not right now.

"And I wanna see the day when I become a public spokesperson and talk to millions of people. So tough luck, ain't gonna happen." Adam scoffed, obviously not taking the blonde's words to heart. "You wouldn't be a good spokesperson with that attitude. I think I would be better for sure, I'd win them over with my charm." Adam winked at James, the same smirk never leaving his face.

"Oh yeah, because everybody loves a flirty douchebag," James said as he rolled his eyes. He reached into his bag again, pulling out a pen before he opened up to the first page. He wrote the date in the top right corner and started jotting down some notes. "More than a white boy with no sense of humor." James stopped writing and whipped his head towards Adam, who still wore the cocky look. 

"Douchebag and a racist? I hit the jackpot, didn't I? Meet the most annoying guy ever on the first day, huh?" James jabbed back, anger bubbling in his gut as he looked to the front of the class, where Mr. Nantoka was still writing equations on the whiteboard, his back turned to the class. Surprisingly, there was no more conversation after that, only the sound being Mr. Nantoka's dull voice bouncing off the classroom walls.

*********

The bell rang after an hour and a half of Nantoka's nonstop, monotone voice that made James want to bash his head repeatedly into the wall. If that wasn't bad enough, he had a feeling that he was being stared at by Adam, who didn't say a word after their small argument. "Alright class, see you tomorrow. Whatever you didn't finish today, is for homework and due tomorrow." The swarm of rushing students disappeared through the door as James got all his stuff into his bag and slid it onto his shoulder, waiting for TJ and Beck near the front of the classroom.

"See you tomorrow, Princess." Adam's voice appeared next to James's ear, making the boy jump slightly. He turned to glare at the annoying prick who was just smiling and walking out the door, his face showing he didn't have a care in the world. James is beyond annoyed with this boy, he is going to explode sometime soon.

"What was that?" James turned quickly to look back at his two friends, who were both ready to leave and waiting for James's response.

"What was what?" James asked TJ who wore a face of confusion similar to the one Beck wore. 

"What was that thing with Adam? Wait, how do you know Adam?" Beck asked, her face wearing a frown instead of a smile, something James did not think he'd see soon. James looked back in the direction Adam left then back to his friends. "Um, he's been bothering me since our P.E. class, being a douche and stuff," James said as he motioned for the others to leave the room with him. His schedule said he had Theater Arts right now, a class he didn't have with TJ, but still needed help getting to the room, which just said 'Black Box.' Luckily enough, TJ had Varsity Choir, which was just next door to Theater.

"Wait, Adam's been talking to you? Like 'talking' talking? Or just conversing?" TJ asked, shock replacing his confusion. James felt his stomach knot up. If it's shocking that Adam is conversing with him, that means something is up for sure.

"Well, more like flirting and being annoying really, nothing I can't handle," James said with a shrug, following the two outside towards the courtyard which held many empty lunch tables that were screwed to the ground (as if some weirdo were to come to the school and steal some tables). The tall trees the provided shade to the tables were covered in very little orange leaves that seemed similar to paper fluttering in the soft breeze. The breeze made James shiver, which in result made him regret not bringing a light sweater.

"Holy shit, Adam's flirting with him," Beck said in a quiet voice to TJ, which James still picked up him being a few inches away from them.

"Is that a bad thing?" James questioned in a confused tone. 

"Well, yes and no." TJ started, "The good thing is if he's flirting, not many people can touch you. It's sort of a thing where if you're flirted with by Adam himself, you're pretty much untouchable. Not even Hunter can lay a finger on you. _I_ _f_ word spreads around about you and Adam, I mean. But the bad thing is if he's flirting with you, either he's interested or wants something from you. Rumors say its something that not a lot of people voluntarily give up to him." TJ said while looking James in the eyes. A shiver went down James's spine just by the sound of those words. "What would that be?"

"Your virginity."

"Your soul." Beck and TJ answered at the same time, both confident in their answers.

James froze, hoping he didn't hear any of those terms right. "What?"

"Some people think that he wants to take away people's virginity, not by raping of course, but apparently he can get anyone he wants no matter how persistent. People say he's slept around, but I don't know how much of that is true. And no one has ever seen Adam in an actual relationship, but then again, he's always with Bailey, so I don't know. Maybe people just like talking shit. I don't really care, I just worry about me and my friends so I'm not really a good source for 411." James took in the new information like a sponge, soaking in every word, and processing everything. 

"Other people think that it's their soul that he takes and keeps them for his own evil purposes," Beck adds with a twisted smile aimed at the blonde boy, "but those are just rumors spread around by upperclassmen to scare the underclassmen away from him." Beck shrugged before stepping away from the boys. "Anyways I gotta go, Ms. Maney gets cranky when her students are late. See y'all later!" She cried out before walking back through the school doors, both boys still waving as she left.

_Is he like a man-whore or something then? He sleeps around? And why would he want souls? He's not like the Devil or anything, is he?_

"Yeah, we should probably go in before they get a bad impression of you on your first day," TJ announced before jokingly shoving James towards the separate building. When walking through the doors there were only two short directions, left or right, and they took an automatic right then were met with a set of doors on their left. TJ all but slammed the doors open as he walked through them while yelling out, "What's up fuckers?!"

"Why are you on my phone?!" A voice yelled out from in front of them, a girl sitting on a couch her hand being occupied with her phone. In front of James was a huge area that had a stage on the far right side, all the walls painted black with many scattered out sofas throughout the huge space. There were about fifteen students in there that were either talking to each other or playing out some charades, but James did not see any teacher anywhere.

"Fuck you that's why!" TJ called out before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Such a classic." Another voice said from their right side. A tall girl in camouflage pants, a black shirt, and combat boots approached TJ before smacking his back as a greeting. This girl was beyond intimidating, just with her height alone, but James couldn't feel intimidated because of her kind face.

"Hey, Teej. Who's this cutie?" She asked as she looked at James, not checking him out but rather studying him, making him feel like a bug under a microscope. But he would rather be under the gaze of this girl rather than Jaiden's death glare.

"Groot, this is James, he's new here. So please, don't scare him off." TJ said with a smile. "Oh, sorry Sweetheart, no promises," Groot said as she winked in TJ's direction, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as she winked. James's gut coiled at the actions, automatically thinking about Adam and his annoying presence.

"Just kidding, I'll be his mentor. It'll be awesome."

"Alright, thanks Groot, I gotta go. See you later James!" TJ exclaimed before dashing out the doors towards the other set of doors that were across the hall from Theater. Before James had a chance to even feel awkward, Groot turned to him and began talking, "So Peaches, here's how it goes down. As soon as the bell rings, we get into a little circle and do whatever warm-up Jack does for us, Jack is our teacher by the way, then we do whatever assignment Jack wants us to do." Groot says in a quick voice, most of the words sounding slurred together. James was interrupted once more, but this time by another voice.

"Hey, babe." A boy, even taller than Groot, said as he slid an arm around Groot's waist and kissed her forehead. "Who's this?" The newcomer asked. The boy's face was anything but friendly, his cold blue eyes burning through James's soft ocean eyes. The boy wore a black leather jacket over a white muscle shirt, torn jeans, and combat boots similar to Groot's. James thought he was older due to his graying black hair, making him look like he's in his late 20's already. This was the 'bad boy' look James was familiar with back at his old school. The kind of look that guys wore that had every girl dreaming of being/sleeping with. Needless to say, you would not expect someone who looked like him to be in a Theater Arts class where the 'nerds' are.

"Len, this is James, the new kid. And also new to the class." James nodded his head slightly towards Len, a sign of respect he used in his old school. The other boy, Len, snickered before nodding back.

"Nice. Well, James, I'm Leonard, I go by Len, and you'll have shitloads of fun in this class." Len said as he fist-bumped James, with the bell ringing as James made contact with Len's hand. Groot giggled and pulled away from Len, grabbing James lightly by the arm then dragged him towards the other students, who all stood up and automatically made a circle. The class was alive now, all the students conversing with one another while James sort of just stayed quiet and listened to Groot and Len talk about what they were gonna eat after school. The debate was between pizza and spaghetti.

"Alright, good afternoon laddies!" A loud accented voice yelled from behind the circle. Said circle, parted slightly leaving space for someone else to enter. To James's surprise, a seemingly young and short man with a sliver of facial hair stepped into the spot, joining in with the other students. What surprised James the most was the fact that he had a mop of bright green hair resting on his head, a very different look compared to the others who had brown, blonde, or black hair.

"Alright guys, today's exercise is, drum roll please," immediately everyone in the group started hitting their thighs in rhythm while James was the only one who didn't catch on until it was too late. "Zip, Zap, Zop."

A couple of students groaned while the others whooped out in excitement, Groot being one of them. "Now, you guys know the drill. Do not repeat whatever word the other person said and make sure to-" Jack stopped talking as his eyes landed on James, "Hold on a second, is that a new face I see?"

The students turned in the direction the green-haired man looked towards, James immediately feeling a bit embarrassed when all eyes landed on him.

"Yeah, I'm James." James got out, trying to prevent his voice from cracking, his cheeks going slightly pink.

"Hello James, didn't mean to put you on the spot, I can't control my loud mouth sometimes. My name is Sean, but almost the entire school calls me Jack. I'm the Theater Instructor and friend to all. My job is to make you happy but also angry and sad. To make you feel every emotion ever, and boss you around while I'm at it. I am basically like a mother. Got the hips for it to prove it." Jack said in a joking tone while wiggling his hips, which made the students snicker. James chuckled but not as loud as the other students, too afraid to say anything stupid and get attacked for it.

"Well James, we'll do introductions after our exercise. For now, try to keep up with our craziness. On with the zipping, zapping, and zopping!" Jack exclaimed before belting out a war cry as he raised his hand holding an imaginary sword to the ceiling. As soon as his hand was raised up, all the students began to cry out with him, copying his movements and yelling. James smiled as he looked around the circle of screaming students, who obviously didn't have any sort of shame as they yelled like Vikings.

He has a feeling he's going to love it here.


	6. Lose It

Laughter is the best medicine, but if you're laughing without any reason, then you need medicine.

All the students in the black box were giggling and laughing as Groot tried to reenact a scene from Finding Nemo where Marlin and Dory were stuck in the whale's mouth. She was currently acting out Marlin's insane scene where he loses it and wiggles his butt against the whale's taste bud while screaming out, "Huh? Do I taste good?!" James has never laughed harder in his life as he watched his new friend wiggle her butt against Len's, who was supposed to be the taste bud, hip all while trying to hold back his laughter. After the warm-up, that James lost multiple times, the students were supposed to act out a scene from an animated movie to make other students laugh and guess what movie it is specifically. So far, the winner was between Groot herself and another student called Duck.

Before the 'guessing the scene' game, everybody introduced themselves by their preferred nicknames rather than their real names to James, which was totally fine by him. Much easier to remember. (The students all agreed that they'd have a nickname for James by the end of the week when they got to know him better).

The game finished and the final two stood on both sides of Jack. On his right side, stood Groot and her tallness. On Jack's left side stood a girl who was short and wore rainbow suspenders on her blue jeans, with a shirt that said 'Move I'm Gay!' Her scene involved a scene from Mulan and the performance was exaggerated, but apparently exaggeration is a funny thing in the Black Box.

"Alright guys, we have a tie. Who was funnier? Make some noise for Groot." Jack gestured the girl and paused as he waited for the students to make some type of cheers for her. Many screamed out for the tall girl's hilarious performance, including James who screamed out loud.

"Oh, that sounds pretty good. Pretty good. What about the runner up? Make some noise for Duck." Before he could even finish Duck's name, all the students screamed much louder than they did for Groot, much to James's disappointment. "Looks like Duck is the winner! Sorry, Groot." Jack said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, which was quite difficult seeing as he's shorter than her by a lot. Groot snapped her fingers and clicked her tongue. "God damn, I'm losing my touch. I'll get you next time Duck!" Groot said as she waved her fist in Duck's direction, obvious sarcasm in her voice. 

"Who do you think you are bitch?! I'll throw down with you!" Duck responded with just as much sarcasm as she started flailing her arms as she made a bunch of weird sounds. "Shohwoah woah woah, shubawaba shuv buv dove." Groot lightly smacked Duck over her head, which resulted in Duck throw herself onto the ground in an overexaggerated way, acting as if she was hit on the head by a bat. James was just laughing at the whole scene before him as he heard the bell ring. He was surprised to find out that it has been an hour and a half of laughing at people's performances. Time flies when you're enjoying yourself.

Begrudgingly, James gathered up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder all while Groot was dragging him out the doors by his hand, Len trailing behind them. To James's surprise, TJ was waiting for them, his body leaning against the wall and his head looking down at his phone. "Hey, Teej! I love James, he's awesome! I wanna keep him!" Groot beamed as she kissed James's cheek sloppily, causing James to jump in surprise. TJ chuckled as he pocketed his phone, "That's our cue to leave. Have a safe trip home, guys." 

Groot released her grip on James and went to Len's side, her hand instinctively reaching for his. Len picked up her hand and kissed the back of it before dragging her away towards the student parking lot, a line of students in their cars already being made in order for them to leave. "See y'all tomorrow!" Groot yelled out before turning forwards once more, her hand still linked with Len's. James continued staring at their joined hands, questioning whether or not they were actually dating or just really _really_ friendly. 

"Groot and Len are dating James," TJ said snapping James out of his thoughts, almost as if he read them.

"They are? Groot seems a bit..." James stopped himself, not really knowing how to continue the sentence without sounding rude.

"Flirty?" TJ asked with amusement in his voice. James nodded his head as he looked at the other boy. "Yeah, she's like that, but she's extremely loyal to Len. They're very loyal to the other, Len trusts her whenever she acts how she does. Like that kiss she gave you, it wasn't a 'I wanna date you kiss', but more of a 'I like you as a person and you seem to be trustworthy enough' kiss. That's why Len doesn't make a big deal about stuff like that." TJ explained as they walked towards the front of the school.

"What did you mean by 'Have a safe trip home'? Does Len drop her off at her house?" James asked, still walking alongside TJ. Since school finished, all the students are gathering near the bus area or near the pickup area, and James forgot this school is a lot bigger than his old school. Just by looking at the bus area, he could easily see about three hundred students waiting for their ride on the bus.

"Oh, they live together." James almost stopped in his tracks because he was not really expecting that. They were dating and they lived together already? What about their parents? Do they live alone? As much as he wanted to know more about their living arrangements, James just said a quiet "Oh" and continued walking with his friend. 

"Well then, seems they have a very healthy relationship." James pointed out with a shy smile on his face. Just the thought of having someone the way Len and Groot did was always something James looked forward to in the future. He knows for a fact he won't get that in high school, so he stopped trying after a while.

"He used to be bad before he met her. His parents were out of the picture, so it was him and his sister. His sister was all he had but she was sent to live with his grandparents. He's been arrested for different things, like B&E stuff like that. He told us enough but we never pressed for more. But when he met Groot, everything changed. He got a job, he stopped doing the things he did, and after a year or so, they moved in together. There's nothing that can separate those two." TJ smiled.

"So there isn't a crazy ex that tries to come in the picture? Anyone that makes Len feel on edge whenever they're around Groot?" James asked. TJ pondered the question for a few seconds, thinking about all the possibilities. "Mm, an ex no, but there is someone actually. You've met him." 

"Hunter?" 

"Try again dude." TJ teased as he bumped his shoulder with James'. It didn't even take James long to think of another person.

"Adam." James hissed out.

"Yup. Len can't stand him. Groot can be walking alone in the hall, talking to friends, not having a care in the world until Adam appears, even within a 10-foot radius of her, Len shows up and pulls her away from his direction. Len tries to avoid her from seeing him like the Plague." TJ explained to the tall blonde. "No one really knows why Len hates him, but it does take a lot for Len to hate someone with that much fire in his eyes. Adam is quite special."

"Yeah, he's something else that's for sure," James muttered under his breath.

He felt his pocket buzz, signaling he was getting a call. Confused, James pulled out his phone, something he didn't use once all day surprisingly. After seeing the familiar name, he answered the phone and raised it to his ear, "What's up?" 

"Where are you? Luke and I are waiting where we were supposed to meet. Mom is almost here for us." Faith said through the small speakers of his phone.

Realization dawned on James. He forgot he was supposed to meet up with his brother and sister after school. "Crap! I forgot. I'll be there soon." James rushed before clicking the red button.

"Sorry TJ, I gotta go meet up with my brother and sister."

"You have a brother and sister that go to school here?" TJ asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I really gotta go, I'm sorry," James said as he started walking backward while looking at his friend.

"Alright, be careful, I'm gonna meet up with the group before we all leave. See you tomorrow bud." TJ said as James walked away rather quickly.

"Bye, see ya!"

********

After many apologies and a car ride filled with questions about their first day of school, James was finally home, thankful for getting away from the pesky questions about his day. But the party didn't stop there. A few hours later when they were all sitting together at the table eating dinner, they were all forced to talk in detail about their first day to their parents. There really wasn't any escaping from this.

Luke started off by saying he loved his schedule and was in love with the military class he was placed in. Apparently, on his first day he came in on their PT day and they were working on 'team-building' exercises. Since he didn't bring the proper PT gear, a cadet offered his own gear to Luke and PT'ed in his regular clothes. Luke felt awful about using someone else's clothes, but the other boy did not mind and even insisted. Since the boy became friends with Luke rather quickly, the two ended up talking about everything there is to know about the school and the program. He even mentioned something about a drill team that Luke immediately wanted to join. His parents were happy to let him join.

After that, Faith was talking about the nice people she met in her classes and how she was really interested in joining cheer. Back in their old school, Faith was a very preppy cheerleader that was known/loved by all, and she missed that feeling of pumping up crowds at sporting events. Their parents said they'd think it over. Not only did she talk about cheer, but she also mentioned that there was a guy who was taking an interest in her. Faith then went into full detail about how the guy was and what type of person he seemed to be, yet she didn't mention his name to any of them. As soon as she finished her rant, their dad was already preparing his metaphorical shotgun and threatening to end some punk kid's life for even thinking about getting with his daughter. 

As for James, he just talked about the lunch group and Theater Arts, not once mentioning the annoying dickwad that is Adam Ortiz. He also wanted to keep out the fact that his P.E. class might've bruised the hell out of his body because he didn't think that was important either. The whole time he talked about his day, all eyes were on him, but Faith's eyes seemed to be more focused on him, as if trying to figure something out. After their parents were satisfied with their descriptions of their days, they were all excused from dinner and each went into their respective rooms.

As soon as he walked through the door, James felt like his room was a literal oven, sweat already beginning to form on his forehead. _This ain't gonna do_ , James thought as he opened the window, letting the breeze flow through the hot room. As he looked out, he saw that the sun had already gone down and the stars were glittering in the dark sky. James stopped and rested on his elbows on the window ledge, enjoying the view of the night. At his old home, you couldn't really see the sky as clearly as this, only artificial light that was provided by the street lights and buildings, so this is way better. 

After changing into some basketball shorts and ditching his shirt, James was laying on his bed with a pillow over his head, hoping for a moment of peace before continuing Mr. Nantoka's annoying homework. As much as he liked math, he couldn't be bothered with working his brain right now. That hopeful peace didn't seem to last long because the door was opened then closed, quickly followed by his bed dipping slightly, signalling someone was there in his room. Then a familiar cheery voice asked, "How was your day?"

James looked out from under his pillow and looked at his twin sister, who was changed into her pajamas. She wore a Winnie the Pooh onesie with her blonde hair tied in a loose pony tail, ready for bed. James immediately placed the pillow back over his head, hoping that she would just leave him be.

"Faith, you already heard everything at the table, there's nothing more than that." James said in a muffled voice. It was quiet for a few seconds before he felt the pillow being yanked out of his hands, the light of the ceiling momentarily blinding him. "That's not all, there was something else. James, I'm your twin and there was more to it than just a lunch group and your last period, so what is it? Is it a girl?" Faith asked with excitement.

"There's no girl Faith, there really wasn't anything more than that. Now can you leave, please? I have homework." 

"When I came in you were just lying down." Faith pointed out while tilting her head, resting the side of her head on a closed fist. "I wanted to rest my brain for a bit before continuing, look at my desk." James said before sitting up and pulling the pillow into his hands, then quickly smacking her with the pillow. "Out!" James yelled as he kept smacking her. Faith was much quicker though, seeing as she got her own weapon and started attacking him back with a firmer pillow. "No! Tell me!" She said between hits.

James groaned as he picked up his pace, the blows getting slightly faster. "Gimme some privacy!" He exclaimed, not giving up on the fight. "Not until you- _Achoo_!" Faith stopped her actions as she started having a rather violent sneeze attack. "What th- _Achoo_! What the hell?!- _Achoo_!" James dropped his pillow and went to his sister's side. 

"Crap, come on, let's get your meds. You drug addict." James said as he guided his sneezing twin to her own room. After stepping into the room, James quickly went through her night stand, shuffling through her drawers in a frenzy, searching for her pills. He reached the bottom one that had a thick sweater in view.

"James not th- _Achoo_! Not that one!" Faith tried to get out in a panicked voice, but it was too late, the damage was done. How did she know? Because James' face was beet red as he slammed the drawer shut, the wood almost splintering with the force he used. Faith groaned as she went to the other night stand and pulled out her medication, not hesitating to swallow them dry. James couldn't look his sister in the eyes, but he did make sure she was okay before leaving the room with his eyes on the floor. 

He closed the door behind him as he tried to get the image out of his head. _How did she even buy and sneak that thing in without any of us knowing? Wait, I don't even wanna know. And why did she have a sneeze attack? She only sneezes with-_

" _Meow_."

James turned to look for the source of the sound, only to find the black cat sitting on his bed cleaning her left paw. James chuckled as he realized that Faith got an allergic reaction because of his reoccurring feline friend.

"Hey buddy." James said as he sat next to the cat and started grooming her back. "You came through the window, didn't you?" He asked with a smile. The cat purred and jumped onto his lap, rubbing her body against James's stomach. James giggled before placing her on the bed and walking towards his desk. Might as well get Nantoka's work out of the way.

Before James could even write on the paper, the cat jumped onto the sheet and meowed at James. "Hey ho, okay. Look cat, I have work to do, so can you please go back to the bed or chase a mouse or something? I wanna get this outta the way."

The cat only looked up at James and sat down. "Come on cat, let me work." 

" _Meow_."

"Please?"

" _Meow_."

"What's that have to do with my homework?"

" _Meow._ "

"Excuse me?"

" _Meow_."

"Don't bring my mother into this!" James stopped. He's talking to a cat who can't even actually speak, and is having a full-on conversation with her. He's straight up procrastinating now. He sighed as he fell back into his chair, thinking about how his procrastination is gonna get him in trouble one day. The cat seemed to take that as an invitation and jumped onto his lap once more before she laid down. James rolled his eyes at the feline's actions, before it dawned on him that he doesn't know what her name is, assuming she even has one.

"What should I call you?" He asked outloud, making the cat look up at him.

"How about Luna?" James asked. As common as the name is, the cat reminded him of Sailor Moon. The cat made a sound of disapproval before hissing. "Okay, no Luna. Fair enough, its overused. How about Pepper?" The cat only looked at James.

"Jet?" Silence.

"Shadow?" Nothing.

"Midnight?" James asked. The cat meowed and relaxed back into James's lap, letting her eyes fall shut. "Midnight it is then." James said as he turned back to his work before starting up on the equations.

******

"You look like hell." TJ said as he sat in his seat next to James, who was having trouble keep his eyes open while his hand was lazily drawing out Oddball in a different scenario. Today's scenario was Oddball standing in some clouds, the clouds forming near his feet.

"Rough night." James yawned out while he stretched his back against his chair, hearing many satisfying popping sounds, before continuing his drawing. 

"Sorry to hear that." TJ said before turning back to the front of the class. James wasn't lying when he said this, he really did have a rough night.

Well, sort of.

He finished Nantoka's work late and couldn't fall straight asleep after that, despite him being tired. To top it off, when he did get some sleep, he had his daily nightmare, but this time, slightly different.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_James opened his eyes when he heard the echoing noise. He looked around and found nothing but darkness for miles once more._

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_A dark chuckle made James jump slightly along with him turning a full 360 degrees, looking for the man who made the noise._

_"The more you have of me.." The voice announced in a chilling whisper right behind James. The boy turned quickly, hoping to finally see the face, but didn't find anything._

_"The less..." The voice was now right next to James, the cold breath making the boy still. Ever so slightly, James turned and saw what seemed to be a man covered in shiny black oil, only he didn't have eyes or a definitive facial structure._

_"You see!" The man yelled before jumping at James. James fell backwards and landed in the thick, black oil that was all over the ground. "Use that brain of yours." The man said as he grabbed James and pulled him into the oil, the blonde boy trying desperately to grab something to prevent him from going into the oil, but to no avail. James couldn't cry for help, he couldn't breath. He couldn't do anything but fall into nothingness._

"Earth to James. Hellooooo." TJ snapped his fingers in front of James's face, shocking the boy out of his day dream (Day-mare?).

"Huh? Yeah?" James asked while looking down at his drawing. To his surprise, Oddball didn't look like Oddball, but looked more like the man from his nightmare. The usual marshmallow that always wore a smile was shaded in with pencil and had no facial features whatsoever. The black figure was standing in a pool of pencil shading, making him look like he's walking out dripping in the horrid oil. "I asked if you were okay. You were just staring at the window while you drew that picture, which is pretty cool if you ask me." TJ said as he peeked at the drawing. "What is that anyways?" 

"Um, it's from an anime I saw the other night." James rushed out. TJ looked at James and shrugged shoulders. "Weird flex, but okay." TJ said while writing down some Spanish terms in his notebook. James chuckled at his friend's choice of words and placed the paper into his spiral, returning his focus to the Spanish instructor.

******

James stood in the locker room, changing out into his P.E. gear in silence. Once again James was late to class, but he can blame Hunter for that, since he was the one who stopped him to taunt him about disposable topics and even went as far as to shove James into the wall, which hurt him much more than it should've thanks to all the new bruises he received the day prior. Adding to Hunter's stupidity, the class was far from the gym, so that's also another reason for his tardiness. Regardless of all that, James thought about TJ and his friends.

James couldn't help but smile as he put his regular clothes into his locker, thinking about how things are turning out just fine in this new school. Other than Hunter, James did not have any problems or complaints about this school so far.

James was tying up his shoes when he heard the door open with it's normal creaking. The blonde groaned in annoyance of what was to come in a few seconds, the smile he wore a few seconds ago disappearing from existence. If today was going to be like yesterday, James was not having it. _I really don't wanna deal with him right now._

"Hey kid, Coach Roth said to hurry up in changing. He wants you out there already." James was shocked when he saw that the boy he was expecting, wasn't the one he was looking at right now. "You're not Adam." James hesitated as he looked at the other boy. Instead of the tall, tanned boy he knew as Adam, the boy in front of him was rather short with rimmed glasses and silver colored hair clashing well with his pasty white skin, with a certain confident vibe emitting from him.

The boy was taken back at the weird statement, until something dawned on him. "Ohh. Looking to deal?" The boy asked while crossing his arms, a knowing smile etched on his face. James tilted his head slightly at the weird question. "Um, no. What deals? I just meant- Uh. I just thought you were Adam. Walking in." James stuttered with red cheeks. 

"Someone got a crush?" The other boy said as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively in James's direction. James's jaw dropped. "What? No! I don't-! I'm not-! No!" The blonde was positive his whole face was really red, probably redder than last night. "I'm only joking, but he is an attractive guy, you gotta give him that." The other boy shrugged.

"I'm Tyler. Tyler Oakley." Tyler said as he stuck out his hand. James took his hand and shook it once. "James Rallison." James nodded before releasing the other's hand. These students all greet someone with a handshake? A very big contrast from his old school where they just smack the other's back.

"Well James, hate to break it to ya, but Adam is absent today. You should probably get used to it too, because there's times he's gone up to a whole two months without coming to school. I'm surprised he even advances to the next grade with all those absences." Tyler assured. James took in the bit of information that Tyler just said. Adam has a tendency of never being here? Why would he miss so much? What's more important than free education? 

Well, anything actually, but that's besides the point.

"Do you know why?" James asked while trying to hide his curiosity from the other boy, which was futile since Tyler picked it up. "No one knows actually. Maybe Bailey." Tyler shrugged.

"Who's Bailey?" James asked.

"Adam's best friend who graduated last year. The popular womanizer of last year. Wait, no he wasn't a complete womanizer, heard he slept with a few dudes, but that doesn't matter." Tyler said more to himself. James couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with this information about Bailey. So he was a man-whore first, probably slept with Adam and taught him everything he knows. Practically perfect for each other.

"So you're jealous?" Tyler asked with a smirk that made James feel embarrassed. "No, I'm no-"

"You just said that Bailey probably slept with Adam and they're man-whores all with venom in your tone. Voicing your thoughts is a trait you should learn to control. Now come on, Roth probably thinks we're plabning skip now." Tyler laughed while walking towards the entrance door. James stood for a few seconds before following the other boy out.

"I'm not jealous."


	7. Overreactions

"Hey bitch!" A voice cheered behind James, who was sitting on a bench while untying his shoe laces, his foot resting on the bench he sat on.

"Hi Tyler." James acknowledged still working on his shoes, his body facing his locker. As usual, James just walked in ten minutes after the bell, but he's been doing that for the past few weeks, so everyone was used to it, including the coach. The silver haired boy plopped down next to the blonde, sitting inches away from him. "You know the drill James. Roth wants you out ASAP and hurry up before he makes you do mountain climbers till you puke and yada yada." Tyler sighed out while stretching his arms up, trying to relax his back before he goes back out. "You should stop being late." Tyler giggled as he bumped James's shoulder with his own in a joking manner. James grabbed left shoe and placed it on the bench next to him.

"I would if Hunter wouldn't bother me every time I walk in the direction of the gym." James grumbled while taking off his second shoe with ease. He placed the pair of shoes next to him on the bench then stood up, already beginning to work on his belt. "James! At least buy me dinner first!" Tyler exclaimed while shielding his eyes, standing up from the bench. When they first met, James was a bit reluctant of their friendship. The other boy was a tiny bit annoying at times, but after a while, he grew a certain fondness for Tyler. The boy was loud most of the time and always managed to turn James's mood around, which James appreciated tremendously every time. Then a week later, Tyler told him his sexuality. He was a flaming homosexual and was proud to flaunt it any way he could, much like a peacock durning mating season. And rather than recoiling in disgust and ending their acquaintance-ship, James claimed he didn't care and stuck by Tyler's side.

"In your dreams gay boy." James laughed out as Tyler moved his hand from his eyes and winked at his friend. "More like my nightmares. Now hurry, I'll tell him you're getting ready." Tyler said as he turned in the other direction and walked to the main doors, having a little spring in every step.

"Alright. See you out there!" James yelled out while still working on his belt. He heard the distant sound of Tyler leaving the locker room a few seconds after his previous statement. After unlatching his belt, James worked on his button and zipper of his pants, singing to himself in the empty locker room

" _If I could begin to be_  
 _Half of what you think of me,_ " 

James used his hands to shimmy his pants down to his knees, where they usually got stuck midway. He shimmied them down again while using his legs as well, adding in to help with the movement of the pants.

" _I could do about anything,_ "

Once the pants hit the floor, James attempted stepping out of them, but his sock covered feet got caught at the cuffs of his trousers.

James finally freed his feet as he used them to step on the legs of the pant, holding them down in order to be free.

" _I could even learn how to love,_ "

As James finished the intro of the song, he bent over to pick up the discarded trousers off the floor, humming the song's beat as he did.

"Nice ass."

James stood up quickly with his pants in a firm grip while turning around, red blooming on his face. There before him, stood Adam wearing some dark blue jeans with a plain white shirt tucked in and his signature black jacket. New thing today was, that he wore some black rimmed glasses and a beanie, not what he was expecting.

"How's my Baby Boy?" Adam purred. The dark haired boy walked over to the bench and sat himself facing James. "It's been a while." Adam smiled up towards James who was still standing with his pants bundled up in his hands, not moving a muscle and the red on his face growing darker by the second. He blinked before clearing his throat and putting his pants in his locker, grabbing the shorts he was supposed to use. "Yeah, you've been absent for a while." James countered as he quickly pulled his shorts up his long legs, ignoring the pet name Adam used.

"Aww you do care, but it was only like a month or so. Did you miss me Baby?" Adam teased while eyeing up the blonde boy, his right hand fixing his dark hair. James took a good look at Adam, noticing a few things. On the hand he was currently using, he wore a gold ring with a dark blue stone on top, wrapped around his middle finger, almost like a class ring. Since he last saw him, Adam had some facial hair coming in, as if shaving was not an option for the boy. The dark hair shaped up his face, making him look older than he actually was. James scanned the boy's face, seeing something that made his stomach fall. On the left side of Adam's face was a faint purple color that wouldn't be noticed unless you stared for a long time. That was a bruise, and a nasty one too. It was about the size of a baseball.

"Earth to Princess. Yoo-hoo!" Adam said while waving his hand in front of James's face. James looked away from his cheek and met his eyes with Adam's.

"Yes?" James asked.

"I asked if you were okay. You were just staring at me and blanked out. I know I'm good looking, but come on." Adam joke while flexing his arms, which was not visible due to his jacket.

James rolled his eyes, annoyance popping up once again. "I'm not a princess." James mumbled to himself. James walked to the spot next to Adam before taking a seat, shocking Adam that James would voluntarily sit next to him.

"So, Adam, tell me about yourself." James requested, his hands grabbing one of his shoes, the only thing that sat between the two boys. Adam physically recoiled in surprise, as if this was not something he ever expected to leave the blonde's mouth. "I- Hoh- Come again." Adam stammered before turning to fully face James.

"Tell me about yourself, you've been gone for a while and I know things about many people except you. So fill me in on some stuff, you know, favorite color, favorite food, all that jizz." James stated as he worked with his shoes, his face growing much hotter than before. He has a feeling he is going to regret asking Adam to open up. Although he is not very fond of the other boy, he is curious about him and no one really knows any answers, so asking a few questions isn't so bad, right?

"Well my favorite color is red and my favorite food is pizza. I don't know what else you want to know. I'm not that interesting." Adam chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck. The blonde was shocked that Adam actually went along with answering his questions, but that didn't stop him from wanting to know more.

"Oh come on, there has to be something interesting. Like uh, what are your hobbies?" James asked as he swung his leg over the bench, straddling the seat while giving his undivided attention to Adam. "Alright, let's see. I love playing video games and listening to music. Like I said, not that interesting." Adam answered while crossing his arms across his chest. 

"Okay, let's try something different. Why were you absent for a month?" James asked placing both hands on the bench, his weight resting on his palms. Not as smooth as he was planning, but he was really curious.

"Personal reasons." Adam shrugged, his head tilting back slightly as he looked into James's eyes. The look sent shudders up the blonde's spine, but he'd never admit to that.

"Personal reasons that take up to a month to recover from?" James asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice, his arms crossing in the same manner as Adam.

"Personal reasons that are none of your business." Adam snapped, his hands slamming onto the bench loudly. "Now if you don't mind, there's a class you have to go to." Adam stared at James with a hard glare, something that left James scared. He hit a nerve, and he felt guilty about hitting it.

"Adam I'm-"

"No, don't wanna hear it. Get out. Roth is waiting." With that, Adam stood and walked to the door Tyler exited from, an angry look etched on his face. Instantly, James stood up and followed, the sound of the door slamming against the wall then back shut. "Adam wait! I'm," James started as he followed through the door Adam left. To his surprise, Adam was no where in sight, he just vanished. 

"Sorry."

*****

"So what's the topic today guys?" James asked as he sat, wincing when he sat down on his seat, his tray meeting the hard table with a clank. Roth was a man of his word, he made James do a horrible workout while the others just ran laps around the field. Needless to say, every part of James's body was throbbing. 

The blonde looked around to the faces of the people sitting around him. Maaz was currently looking at his phone, his brows furrowed in concentration as his fingers danced over the screen, probably playing a game. Beck sat relaxed in her spot, filing her nails while humming a tune of a pop song that's up on the charts right now. TJ was currently eating a slice of pizza, his blonde hair getting into his eyes slightly with every head movement. Jaiden was finishing up a sketch of a beautiful bird that was resting on a branch, its wings outstretched as if ready to take flight. Tim and Alex seemed to always be competing as right now, they were playing a game of paper, rock, scissors. And by the looks of it, Tim was winning.

"Ooo, I got some tea for you guys." Beck exclaimed while banging the table slightly, excitement seeping onto her face. She set down her nail file and started to sit up in her seat, as if getting ready to say something drastic. The group all turned to her and gave her their full attention, all waiting for her to continue with whatever she was going to say. After just a few days of sitting with them, James picked up that Beck was the type of girl to have dirt on anyone that attends the school, teachers or students. She knows who they are and what their demons are, without fail. She claims she gets great information from some very trusted sources apparently, never mentioning a name. All in all, this girl can end your life if you cross her.

"I found out that Hunter dumped Meg." Beck blurted out, looking around the table for their expressions. Most of the group started chuckling at her statement, even Jaiden giggled at her excitement. "That's not really that thrilling Beck. I mean, that's good tea, but it's pretty cold. Most of us knew that already, it's been like three weeks." Jaiden commented, looking down to continue her sketch. James was actually quite shocked with the information, he's always seen those two together whenever they taunt him on his way to class. Now that he thought about it, Hunter was alone for a while. How did he not notice that?

"Yeah, but do you know why he dumped her?" Beck asked with a raised eyebrow and an evil smile. 

The group all thought about it for a moment, nobody really knew why they split, the couple kept it hush hush. "Why? She cheated? Or did he?" Maaz asked.

"Nope. Because Hunter has a thing for another girl and asked her out a day after the break up. Apparently, she said yes but never really knew about Meg dating him. No one ever told her anything. And they didn't want anyone to know about them." Beck responded with a smile.

"Ooo, how interesting. That happens all the time." Jaiden said while crossing her arms, her brown hair falling over her left eye. She flipped her hair away from her eyes and over her shoulder, still waiting for Beck's response.

"Ah, but this time, we know the girl. Well, sort of know her." Beck said, the smile not once dropping. The group seemed to sit still, all questioning who the unlucky girl might be. "Who is it?" James asked not bothering to hide his curiosity. Beck looked at James with that smirk still resting on her lips.

"Faith Rallison."

All eyes immediately turned to James, not really knowing what to expect from the blonde boy. Even Jaiden looked interested in what James's reaction might be. By the second week of James joining the table and talking about his life, the group knew that James had a brother and a twin sister attending Laciest, but they never really met them in person. "Faith is... dating Hunter?" James asked slowly as he looked into Beck's eyes.

"Did I stutter?" Beck responded, no hint of any emotion. Time seemed to slow down as he processed the new information. Hunter Zimmerman, the guy James has hated since they got here, has been dating his twin sister for nearly three weeks. The asshole that abuses James, both verbally and physically, on a daily basis... is dating his twin sister. No, she can't. Beck's info is wrong, she wouldn't date him. James felt his blood boil slightly at the mere thought of it. Faith hasn't once admitted to anyone that she was dating. Not even to him.

James pushed his tray away forcefully as he stood up abruptly from his seat. The blonde pushed himself away from the table and started walking off, away from his group. "What-? James?" TJ said as he started getting up as well. "James, wait..."

"Don't!" James snapped as he turned towards TJ with his arm outstretched, trying to keep him from walking any closer to him while he's pissed off. TJ stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide as he looked at the angry boy, not recognizing the coldness in his eyes. James rarely got angry in front of the others, this is a big shocker to all of them, especially TJ. 

"Don't follow me. I-I need some time to cool down." James grumbled as he turned forward, walking towards his destination, not once looking back at his upset friend.

James walked through the court yard, angrily kicking at the dead leaves on the ground. The gentle breeze took the leaves away from James's abusive feet and flew out of the isolated area. Although the courtyard had various lunch tables, they were all empty, not a single soul was in sight. Not even caring about that, James passed the corner of the building and made his way towards the passageway between the gym and the band hall. Here there were no cameras, which was a great place to either smoke, skip or do other activities without getting caught, something he learned from Beck a while back. James didn't know why he came here, but he felt an urge to come to this secluded spot. As he grew closer to the passageway, he heard something beautiful flowing through the wind. It was the strumming of a guitar, and it was coming from within the passageway. 

James slowed his pacing and didn't go past the corner of the building, not wanting to interrupt whoever's was playing the instrument (and rather beautifully might he add). The strumming was slow but sounded really strong compared to the soft howling of the wind. 

" _Mama told me, when I was young_  
 _'Come sit beside me, my only son_  
 _And listen closely to what I say_  
 _And if you do this it'll help you some sunny day_ '"

James was shocked when he heard that it was a boy singing. He wasn't shocked with the fact that it was a boy, because girls can also play guitar and sing as well, but he was shocked with how deep the voice was. And how mesmerizing it sounded.

" _Oh, take your time, don't live too fast_  
 _Troubles will come and they will pass_  
 _You'll find a woman and you'll find love_  
 _And don't forget, son, there is someone up above_ "

" _And be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, be something you love and understand_  
 _Baby be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can_ "

" _Forget your lust for the rich man's gold_  
 _All that you need is in your soul_  
 _And you can do this, oh baby, if you try_  
 _All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied_ "

" _And be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, be something you love and understand_  
 _Baby be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can"_

" _Oh yes, I will_ "

James slid down against the wall as he heard the stranger continue singing, not a single note out of place. He couldn't understand why he loved hearing this boy's voice to the point where he just sat and listened like a stalker. Throughout the song, James did nothing but lean against the wall with his eyes closed as he let the song take over his thoughts and the beautiful voice take over his ears.

" _Boy don't you worry, you'll find yourself_  
 _Follow your heart and nothing else_  
 _And you can do this, oh baby, if you try_  
 _All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied_

 _And be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, be something you love and understand_  
 _Baby be a simple kind of man_  
 _Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can_ "

 _"Baby, be a simple, really simple man_  
 _Oh, be something you love and understand_  
 _Baby, be a simple, kind of simple man_ "

The strumming played out the chorus as it came to an ending, waking James up from his dreamscape. This boy had an amazing voice and he was a natural with the guitar. He has to know the face behind the voice.

Silently, James stood up from the grass, being careful not to make any sort of noise to alert the boy. He didn't want to be seen as a stalker of any sorts to the stranger. James walked closer to the wall, slithering his way towards the opening. His left shoulder dragging against the wall while his right hand rested on the wall as well, moving closer and closer to the opening.

"Hey Caleb."

James stopped all movement, the voice throwing him off guard. That sounds... a lot like Adam.

"I know it's been a while since we've talked, but I just wanted to talk to you again and tell you," the voice paused, and James knew for a fact that was Adam. He'd recognize that voice anywhere, but he's never heard him sing. The boy that flirts with him has the voice of an angel? Why couldn't he use his voice for good and not seduction?

"I miss you man. Like, I wish I got to see you more, and I know that you miss me too, don't even try to deny it." Adam chuckled and waited a bit, as if waiting for a response. Something clicked in James's brain. _Oh shit, he's on the phone with someone._

"Right, well let me catch you up. Uh, first off, sales are going great. I swear there's more and more desperate people these days. Willing to do just about anything for the perfect deal. Kinda pathetic really. And no you don't have to worry about it affecting my school time, I'm still passing, no need to worry about my grades." James rested against the wall, listening to a conversation he knew he wasn't supposed to, but he couldn't help it. He doesn't know much about this boy, and this conversation just might change that.

Adam sighed, the sound dragging James back to real time. "There's also another thing that I wanna talk about, something I don't trust anyone to tell and I gotta get it off my chest. So I, uh, met someone." James's eyes widened at his statement, now more interested than before. "I met him a while back, like a few weeks ago. I know, not expecting for it to be a guy, huh? Don't tell mom." Adam laughed bitterly, as if the thought itself was just preposterous. "So I met him a few weeks ago, then I didn't come to school for obvious reasons, and I came back today and saw him and just, I don't know. It's a feeling I can't describe. I- He- He's," Adam stopped himself, as if trying to figure out the right words.

"He's not like everyone else. I can't stop thinking about him. For that whole month I was gone, he was just constantly on my mind. It's funny because the first day I met him, I felt a little spark when I was around him, but I thought nothing of it, but when I was gone, it all fell apart. Everything I did, I thought of him. When I saw him for the first time in forever, I felt butterflies. Caleb, I can't begin to understand why I feel how I feel. I mean yeah, I flirt with guys all the time and they flirt back, but its always for fun, I never mean any of it. This boy doesn't flirt back which isn't the problem, the problem is that I want him to. And even if I knew what I was feeling, I don't even know what he thinks of me. He's just another boy here, yet I can't seem to forget about him. He's different." Adam repeated quietly. "Caleb, I'm..." Adam stopped himself once more, his voice hitching in his throat. "I'm scared." He breathed out shakily.

James's eyebrows furrowed, this conversation is way to personal for him to be listening to. The bell rang, making James jump slightly, his heart rate going up slightly with the scare. Adam cleared his throat then continued talking, "Well, there's the bell. I gotta go, thanks for listening. Love you." After a few seconds, the sounds of a bag zipping was heard before James heard the sounds of grass crunching, the sound fading away down the passageway. Holding his breath, James took a peek past the corner and sure enough, Adam had left already.

*****

"Ah Mr. Rallison, want to explain why you are late to my class?" Mr. Nantoka asked as James walked through the door. The bell rang minutes ago and James came late all because he forgot he left his bag at the lunch table.

_James arrived to their usual table, still dumbfounded about learning more about Adam, but noticed not a single soul was at the table. Not only that, but his bag was gone as well. Hopefully one of them is holding the bag for him. As he looked through the window from the outside, James saw the cafeteria was almost entirely empty minus the few that were gathering their bags, still talking to their friends in no rush to go to class._

_As James was about to turn and leave, his eyes caught a familiar head of long blonde hair. James hid away from her line of view, hoping he didn't get caught watching. Faith walked towards a booth that had four boys sitting in it, all talking about God knows what. Two of the boys facing Faith's direction gestured one of the others about the blonde girl. The boy with his back facing Faith turned his head then stood up. James was surprised when he saw it was Hunter that stood and hugged the girl._

_James grew weary at what he was witnessing, and it all grew worse when Hunter moved his face closer to Faith's and planted a kiss on her lips. James ducked away from the window, feeling as if the wind was knocked out of him. He let out a huff of disbelief as he walked through the double doors, staring at the ground watching every step he took. The thoughts overtook him as he continued walking towards the boy's restroom, the emotions he was feeling making him feel sick._

This can't be happening

_James pushed through the door of the restroom and walked over to the sink. As he approached, he stayed looking into the porcelain bowl while gripping the edges as if they were the only thing keeping him grounded._

It's all true, she is dating him. 

_James looked up from the sink, staring at the mirror. James saw himself staring back with his blonde hair clinging to his forehead and his hands gripping the edges of the sink, knuckles turning white. His disbelief and weariness turned into the anger he had earlier, and everything came crashing back._

That motherfucker is dating my sister.

_"Son of a bitch!" James yelled before punching his reflection. The mirror shattered with the force and pain immediately shot through his left hand. Retracting his hand, James inspected it and saw only red on his knuckles. James cursed as he used his other hand to turn on the tap, immediately placing his hand under the stream of water._

_The boy hissed when the water made contact with the open wound, a stinging sensation buzzing up his arm making him grimace slightly. He pulled back his hand and inspected his bloody hand once more. Thankfully there were no glass shards in his skin, but the pain was very uncomfortable for the boy. He walked over to the paper dispenser and took out a few squares of napkins before dabbing them onto his open wounds, stopping the blood flow from being too much. This is gonna take a while._

"Sorry Mr. Nantoka, it won't happen again." James answered while holding his arm behind his back. "Very well, you haven't been late to my class before, so I'll let this slide. Please take your seat Mr. Rallison." The teacher said before turning back to the class. "As I was saying, grab your laptops and log into WebWork, once you finish the assignment on there, you have the rest of class time as free time." He explained with his usual boring tone. James took the opportunity to head to his desk, hiding his hand away from prying eyes. When he arrived at his desk, he saw his backpack sitting on top, not touched or opened. TJ and Beck must've brought it in for him, he made a mental note to thank them later.

Sitting down with a sigh, James kept his left hand behind his backpack and rubbed his face with the other hand. This day is turning out to be very terrible. Someone cleared their throat from James's left side, pulling his attention towards the usually empty seat. Right, Adam is here today.

And he was holding out a laptop towards James.

"Here, the assignment is online and all that." Adam said while looking away from James's blue eyes. Thoughtfully, James carefully grabbed the laptop, placing it onto his lap whole he put his backpack on the floor. "Thanks." James nodded, the word meaning to be quick but instead sounding cold. Adam didn't respond but turned back to his laptop, entering his login details not once looking at James. The blonde turned to his own laptop, trying not to look at the other as well.

About thirty minutes or so go by and James is surprised that Adam hasn't said anything to him, the only sound being the murmurs of the other students in the classroom talking about the game they saw or whatever petty conversations they always had. He was used to Adam poking at him and making jokes, but he was quiet and that made James feel uncomfortable.

"Look, I'm sorry I kept prying about your personal reason and I get it, you don't have to tell me, but don't be mad at me. It's weird having you here and not talking to me." James grumbled out, typing away at his laptop not wanting to look at the boy. Adam sighed but continued not speaking, making James turn to look at him. Adam sat in his desk while looking at James, his elbows resting on the desk while his hands were clasped together in front of his mouth.

"Look James," Adam began. There were sirens going off in James's head because holy crap, Adam called him by his real name. "I'll admit, I was annoyed that you decided to pry into my life and not take a hint to back off. But if we're being honest here," Adam said, his eyes watching James, when immediately landing on the boy's left hand. "What happened?" He asked with his eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his face.

James looked down at his irritated hand, a fresh set of blood smeared on his knuckles, something that James didn't feel at all. "I tripped." James rushed out, hiding his hand under his desk and away from the boy sitting next to him. Adam nodded his head slowly as if not really believing him before reaching into one of the many pockets on his jacket. "May I?" He asked while he pulled out a black bandana with a design of a skull wearing a gasmask in the center of it. James pulled his hand out from under his desk, giving it a quick glance.

Hesitantly, James gave Adam his hand, the memory of Adam kissing his hand coming back. "Okay." Adam murmured as he tenderly grabbed the blonde's hand. Adam's hand was surprisingly colder than James would've guessed, but it felt good holding his.

"I've punched mirrors before too by the way." Adam confessed as he started to tie up the bloody hand with the black bandana, face full of concentration.

"I didn't punch a mirror." James protested nervously. Adam tightened the knot before looking back up.

"Mhm, well you see James, lying isn't a good look on you." Adam mocked as he placed his hand over the injured one trapping it between his own, being careful not to hurt James. The boy chucked dryly before looking away for a few seconds, hoping his blush would disappear from the surface of his cheeks. "How'd you know it wasn't a window or a wall?" James asked as he turned back to Adam. 

"Well first off, if you punch a window, the glass goes outwards and there will be a small chance that the glass will barely cut you, depending on the window of course. Secondly, if you punch a wall, your hand would be in much worse shape. Punching a wall once leaves your hand swollen, but if you punch multiple times, it gets swollen and the skin starts tearing. You can tell you punched a mirror because the shards stay in one place, so if you punch it, it digs into your skin and actually cuts." James wore an amazed look on his face after Adam finished speaking. James looked down at their hands, Adam's resting over his. Blushing, James slowly pulled his hand to his chest and examined the work Adam did. He flexed his hand, feeling the slight pressure of the bandana restricting the movements a bit, but not enough for his hand to be deemed useless. "You got all of the from just one look at my hand?" James asked as he looked back up at Adam.

Adam nodded before clicking his tongue, rubbing his facial hair a bit as if in deep thought. "That and also because Mateo over there was telling his friend that he saw a broken mirror in the boy's restroom when he went ten minutes ago." James chuckled a bit, processing what Adam just told him, before letting his real laugh come out, the sound making Adam laugh along quietly next to him. 

"Well played Adam." James laughed out, playfully smacking the other boy's shoulder with a balled fist with a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Princess." Adam winked with a genuine smile of his own.

All too soon, the bell rang and all the students started putting up their laptops. James didn't miss the way the smile fell from Adam's face, but didn't comment on the change of mood. He stood slowly, grabbing ahold of his laptop, ready to put it away until someone took it from his hands. "I'll put it up." Adam volunteered, already walking away from the blonde's desk, both laptops clutched in his hands. "You should leave, your friends are waiting for you." Adam said emotionless, his back still facing James.

Confused about his sudden behavior, James grabbed his backpack while looking at Adam's back. "Right. I'll see you later then." Adam only nodded as he placed the laptops in their rightful areas, not acknowledging James as much as he'd hope for.

Without another word, James walked to the door of the classroom and met up with his two friends, who both wore similar expressions on their faces. A look of bewilderment stuck on their faces. "What?" James asked.

"Tell. Us. Everything." Beck stressed out. 


	8. Of Course

The three barely walked out of the room before Beck started back up with her questions. "What was that all about? Spill, I need details!" Beck exclaimed her hands grabbing James's shoulders and shaking him a bit. The students in the hall gave the two weird glances but kept on walking.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James mumbled as he walked out of her grip, looking down not wanting to make eye contact with his friends, his legs feeling like lead as he walked. Beck and TJ went ahead and stopped him from walking, making the blonde stumble to a stop. "For a good portion of the class period you were talking to Adam, so start explaining. You said on the first day you ever met him that you hated him, always making a sour face when you hear his name, now you're making conversations with the guy? Dude, what gives?" TJ asked while gesturing his arms, a frown resting on his face. James sighed before continuing walking, assuming the other two would follow, which they did both of them falling into step next to him.

"We were just talking about nothing really, mostly about shattered glass and mirrors." James shrugged, slowly hiding his hand out of their sight. That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

"Why talk about glass and mirrors?" Beck asked, confusion leaking from her voice. She raised her hand up to her face and scratched her forehead as if thinking about an explanation. "I don't know, the topic just popped up," James muttered. As they walked, James looked around the halls, seeing decorations and posters about a formal dance that's coming up.

"Hmm, so it has nothing to do," TJ stopped talking and grabbed James's hand which made him wince slightly, "with this?" He asked while raising their linked hands. Beck looked at the blonde's hand, her face going from confused to knowing. "Did you punch a window, James?" She asked in a calm voice, her eyes darting around as if looking for a broken window. James ripped his hand out of TJ's and cradled it against his chest. TJ made an effort to look apologetic but went back to waiting for an answer from James with a blank stare. James was not used to seeing this look on his best friend's face and he didn't like it at all, the look was making him uncomfortable.

"No!" James exclaimed with an exasperated tone, making his friends jump a bit. "I punched a mirror." He whispered, hoping they didn't hear, but of course, they did. "Why did you punch a mirror?" TJ asked while going through the double doors, the Black Box only a few meters away. The three stopped before James turned to them, his face angry.

"It doesn't matter, okay? It happened, it's over, it's in the past! So just drop it." James snapped, his eyes holding a coldness in them. Beck flinched but TJ only looked angrier than James. "No, I will not 'just drop it' James."

"Why? It's none of your business anyways!" James barked back just as angry.

TJ was taken back, hurt flashing onto his face before it turned into the previous angry look. "It is my business James! You injured yourself and you choose to tell Adam, a boy you claim to not even like, but not your best friend? What type of friend does that?" TJ huffed before walking away from the two, the blonde watching him stomp away in anger. James didn't say anything as TJ walked through the doors of the Black Box then turned into the Choir Hall, not once looking back.

James stood there with Beck by his side, feeling a bit guilty about what just happened. Nervously, he looked over to his other friend, noticing she was still looking at the Black Box doors rather than turning to look at him. "I've never seen him this angry. James. This is big, you've hurt his feelings." Beck said before looking back to the boy. "See you tomorrow." She walked back towards the doors, leaving James staring at her retreating form.

James sighed as he walked towards the Black Box, hearing the bell ring and groaning. 

******

The spotlight was on the stage and the lights were all off, all the students sat in the dark as they waited for the next and final act. James sat on one of the couches next to Duck, looking up at the stage excited to see what scene Groot and Len chose to perform. The assignment was simple, two students will choose a scene from a show or movie and act out any scene they want, but the scene they perform has to either teach a valuable lesson or make the audience think about the true meaning of the scene. James had partnered up with a boy called Princey, nice guy, and their scene was taken from Brave. Princey was a bit of a Disney fan, so he thought it would be easier to perform something made for a child, but boy was he wrong. James forgot some of his lines and Princey seemed to be frustrated every time James messed up. Luckily enough, Jack didn't take off that many points because he knows that the two don't know each other that well and didn't have as much chemistry as Princey and Anxiety, who was another student in theater (who was also Princey's boyfriend which explains their chemistry).

The couple walk onto the stage, Groot sitting on a chair on one side, with a clipboard and pen in her hands while Len was on the other side of the stage, sitting on a couch with his legs stretched out. Len wasn't wearing his signature leather jacket, he was showing off his arms. A few tattoos littered his arms, looking more like a sleeve and all of it beautiful in the stage light. Groot really hit the jackpot.

"Alright, this scene is going to be played by Groot and Len, and they will be acting as," Jack stopped to read off the paper, "Michael Scofield and Sarah Tancredi from Prison Break. Oh, that is a fantastic show. Alright, well, get on with it guys." Jack flailed his arms, a way of telling the two to get on with their performance.

Len slowly looked down at his black shoes and began tying the shoelaces. "When I was young," He sighed, not looking up from his task, "I couldn't sleep at night because I thought there was a monster in my closet." Len looked up and smiled at Groot, who smiled back shyly and looked down at her clipboard. "But my brother told me there wasn't anything in the closet but fear. That fear wasn't real." Len looked into Groot's eyes, his cold blue eyes melting as he looked at her. "He said it wasn't made of anything, it was just... air. Not even that. He said 'You just have to face it. You just have to open that door and the monster would disappear.'" James thought back to Adam's conversation with the other person, thinking back to his words. _I'm scared._

"Your brother sounds like a smart man." Groot's words took James out of the rabbit hole.

"He is." Len stopped. "In here though, (in prison) you face your fear and you open that door, and there's a hundred more doors behind it." Len looked away for a few seconds before adding in a quieter voice, "And the monsters that are hiding behind them, are all real."

"If you want I could recommend you be sent to AG-SEC." Groot suggested as as she rested her elbows on her knees, the clipboard hanging loosely from between her hands.

"With the rape victims and snitches." Len pointed out as he swung his legs over the edge of the couch.

"It'll keep you safe." Groot whispered.

Len stood up slowly as he looked over to his girlfriend while fixing his wrinkled shirt. "Thanks, but I think I'd like to face the monsters on my own." Groot nodded slowly before standing up next to Len and looking towards the audience. 

"AND SCENE!" Groot yelled. James is always surprised with how one minute she can be a total serious person then shift to a hyper puppy in .02 seconds. The lights turned on and James looked around and saw the students were all staring in awe at the two's performance, including the Irish teacher. "That was great guys. Holy shit that was beyond great! Excuse my language but by God that was spectacular! You two made me believe you were totally different people. Seriously, good job guys." The students all made noises of agreement as the couple got off the stage. "So what was the meaning behind this scene?" Jack said as he asked the students sitting on the couches. The students were quiet until Anxiety raised his hand, his purple jacket grabbing everyone's attention. "Yes Anxiety?"

"The message is kinda on the nose in this one." He joked, making a few students giggle at his input. "Fear is something that shouldn't be feared, but it's also okay for someone to be fearful. Meaning if you're scared, that's totally fine, but there comes a point where you have to face it in order to get rid of it. Kill the monster in your closet and pick out your outfit because you won't have anything to fear anymore." The students mumbled about whether they agreed or not with the statement, most of them agreeing of course. "Very good observation, Anxiety. That's gold star worthy." Jack joked. Princey agreed and placed a kiss on Anxiety's temple as an award of sorts.

"Okay, that's the end of it. The bell should be ringing soon, so you guys have a good day. I have to get ready for a date." Jack winked before heading to his office.

"Who's the unlucky person?" A student called out to Jack. The instructor turned and looked at the students before thinking a bit. "Their name is 'Rick and Morty Marathon'. Special place in my heart." He gave a fake cry as he placed a hand over his chest. The class burst out laughing along with Jack before he saluted and disappeared through his office door. 

The students started filing out when the bell rang, all while James walked with Len and Groot, a routine he got used to after a while. He praised them on their performances, adding in how he felt Len's pain when they reached the outside of the Theater doors. James swept the area, expecting to see a familiar body leaning against the wall or standing near the door, but was mildly shocked when he saw his missing best friend. "Oh, did TJ go home early or..?" Groot asked with her arm linked to the blonde's. James sighed before slowly pulling his arm out of hers, sadness washing back over him. "No, he was here, but we just had a bit of a fall out." James explained. Throughout the whole period, James had forgotten about the real world problems for a bit, but nothing lasts forever. Groot's face fell slightly, her head turning to look at Len, who wore a similar look to Groot's. "Look Bee, if this fall out caused TJ to give you the cold shoulder, he's really hurt."

"But it's been a few hours. I don't know if it's the cold shoulder." James pointed out while crossing his arms.

"What would you call this then?" Len chimed in, his cold voice returning probably because of the attitude he gave Groot. "Whatever mood he's in he always waits for you, no matter what. Now you two have an argument and he left already without waiting? Seriously James, he's hurt."

"Well I'll fix it tomorrow, I don't think he'd appreciate me texting him instead of face to face. I gotta go guys. See you tomorrow." James said before walking away from the couple, not really wanting to continue the conversation. The blonde sighed as he walked towards the Luke's practice, watching as the cheerleaders walked in the direction of the gym. James looked for the familiar one he knew as his sister but saw she was missing. That alone made James want to punch another mirror. Maybe even Hunter's face.

The sun disappeared behind a large cloud as James made his way over to the practice deck, watching in awe as the Unarmed Drill Team practiced their final performance, the sound of the slaps, claps and stomps corresponding beautifully together to make an elegant sound similar to a song. The students continued stomping and clapping before they all simultaneously stepped forward and saluted towards their commanding officer. "Sir!" The team yelled out. Being the commander of the team, Stephanie was the only one who spoke for her team, still saluting with them as she yelled, "Respectfully requesting permission to utilize your drill area, Sir!"

"Carry on." The commander saluted to the students a form of approval and dismissal. "Aye Aye, Sir!" The students marched away while they began their drill, stomping out of the makeshift performance square.

"I'd assume you'd be watching your brother practice, not Unarmed." A voice popped in from next to James, making the twin jump slightly. "Oh yeah, well I practically know the exhibition show and the regulation card like the back of my hand, so Armed isn't exactly exciting to watch anymore." James said.

"Imagine me, I'm stuck here all the time and watching these turds spin riffles and smack their thighs five days out of the week after school. Who's being tortured more?" The man joked.

"Don't be too hard on them, Luke does everything he can to perfect the shows. He really loves these teams and this program." James smiled before turning to see Luke's instructor, Mr. Ellis, who was watching his students practice. "Oh yeah, Rallison is the best, he's a really funny student and is extremely dedicated to the program. He shows up to many community service events and helps out in any way he can. Don't tell your brother, but that cadet chief petty officer position might be his real soon." James thought back to a mention of a chief position that Luke had mentioned, he was looking forward to that. He had gone on and on one night at dinner in hopes of achieving his goal.

"That's good for him." James mumbled before turning back to the unarmed square, who were all being talked to by Stephanie, probably about some adjustments to their show.

"Something on your mind, Killer?" Mr. Ellis asked while nudging James slightly.

"I don't wanna bore you with my problems sir, it's nothing really."

"Nothing, huh? You mean like that hand injury?" James looked down at his hidden hand then back up to the instructor, a questioning look on his face. "I was in the Navy for twenty-five years and a cop for ten, Rallison. I notice a lot of things. So come on, what's up?" He tried again. James sighed before speaking, "Nothing too exciting. In a fit of rage I punched a mirror and bled out then tried to fix my injury, which I failed at. I went to class later and a boy I don't really like wanted to help patch me up, and I let him." James gestured the bandana, making the instructor nod his head in understanding. "Yeah, then we started talking and for once, I felt like I didn't hate him, but rather liked talking to him. And I don't know, I just don't know how to feel."

"Hm, why did you hate him?" Ellis asked while leaning against one of the parked cars, his arms crossing over his chest.

"When I first met him, he just rubbed me up the wrong way and I didn't like him since then." James shrugged, his hands sliding into his back pockets.

"What about him rubbed you up the wrong way?" Ellis asked thoughtfully, his hand scratching his neck as he asked. Unarmed began their exhibition drill from the beginning, hands slapping thighs was the only sound floating around James and Mr. Ellis as James thought about what he was about his answer.

"Well, he's a big flirt and a bit obnoxious to be around at times, and kinda inappropriate." James listed off, watching as the nine students continued their drill.

"If that's the case, then why is it you have to remind yourself that you hate him?" James thought for a moment, asking himself why indeed. "I don't know." James mumbled quietly, more to himself. 

"Chief!" A boy yelled out from the other side of the practice deck, interrupting the two's conversation. "What now?" Mr. Ellis yelled out to the boy. The boy was wearing basketball shorts and the program's shirt, with a riffle being held firmly in his right hand. "Captain Harvell wants to talk to you in the portables."

"Thanks Johnny." Ellis yelled out. Jimmy gave him a nod before walking back towards the Armed practice area. "Sorry to cut this talk short Killer, but duty calls. I'm too old for this shit." James felt his jaw drop, not really used to hearing any teacher swear in front of him. The instructor realized his mistake and quickly added, "Sorry, my New Year's resolution was to stop swearing so much around my kids," He pointed to the students practicing near the two of them. "And I just let that one slip. Whoops."

"Technically, Sir, I'm not your student." James mocked, hoping the older man understood what he was trying to say, placing his hands on his hips in an exaggerated way.

"Oh yeah." Ellis thought for a bit, "So technically, I didn't really mess up. Good catch, Rallison." The man smiled before hitting James's back, slightly harder than James would count as playful. "See you later Killer."

"Goodbye Sir. And thank you for listening."

"Hey, it's part of my job." With that, Mr. Ellis turned and walked back towards the direction of the portables, walking past the students that were training farther from Armed. James looked around the practice deck, watching every team perfect themselves in every way they could before their next competition at God knows where.

It was times like this when James wishes he were in a type of team to distract himself with important training like they do. "Hey loser! Can you come here for a sec?" Luke called out. James looked out towards the Armed square, seeing that all eyes were on him. His legs went into autopilot as he walked over to the team. "What's up, asshole?" James asked his brother. One of the four girls in the team giggled to the other, whispering something in the other's ear. 

"Hey, so I know you know how we work and I know you know your stuff when watching us perform, so can you do us a favor?" James nodded his head. "Can you watch our performance and tell us where we mess up? We could really use the constructive criticism. Chief went in to talk to Captain and we all know that takes a while. And we'd have Johnny do it, but he's commanding us and performing." James turned to Johnny, who just nodded as he rested his arms on his resting rifle. 

"Um yeah sure. No problem."

"Alright! Thanks loser." The rest of the team murmured out their thanks before they all slammed the butt of their rifles against the deck in unison. "Alright guys, form up!" Johnny's commanding voice was a lot different than his regular voice. "Armed Drill Team. Attention!" James left the square, standing outside the cones and waited for Armed to begin their exhibition show.

*****

James let himself fall back onto his bed, resting his head on his pillows. Sighing, he stretched his arms upwards then placed them under his pillow, feeling the weight of his head rest against his hands. Today has been all over the place. Definitely a day he wouldn't forget soon.

James thought for a second before taking his left hand out from under the pillow, raising it above his face in the air. The bandana had become looser throughout the day, not quite as tight as Adam had left it. James sat up and hung his legs over the edge of the bed, his eyes still not looking away from his hand. Carefully, James started undoing the knot with his non-injured hand, wanting to see what damage was done.

After taking off the piece of cloth, James noticed that the blood had indeed stopped, which was a big relief, but there was still dried blood all over the previously covered area. The blonde pocketed the bandana then stood up from his bed, walking out his room and heading for the unoccupied bathroom. He flicked on the lights then closed the door behind him, knowing his mom would freak out if she saw blood. Surprisingly, throughout his clumsy life, James has never had an injury as bad as this. The skin on his knuckles were split with dried blood crusting over the injury and you can almost see some of the meat through the cuts.

_Holy shit, how hard did I punch that mirror?_

James turned on the tap and placed his hand under the water before softly rubbing off the blood from his hand. The sting wasn't as bad as before, the pain only feeling like a pinch compared to earlier. Thinking back through his day, James remembered the reason why he punched the mirror in the first place. Faith. Hunter. 

Hurriedly, James turned off the tap and re-wrapped his hand with the bandana, albeit messy because he used his non-dominant hand. The blonde exited the restroom, shutting off the lights as he walked through the doorway.

James walked down the hall towards his sister's room, not looking away from his injured hand, his anger changing into a fuzzy feeling. Looking at his hand made him think back to Adam patching him up and how he was so careful with his hand, as if one wrong move would shatter James. 

James now stood face to face with Faith's decorated door, cutting off James's thoughts on the boy, the anger coming back. The frown fell onto his face as he raised his right hand to knock, until he heard his sister speak. "Yeah, of course I know who Troye Sivan is, don't you know me?" Silence. "Yeah, I know. I heard on the radio about show dates and locations, so yeah I know his next show is here."

"No. Babe, don't lie to me." James growled when he realized who she was talking to. Of course she would be talking to that douchebag. A squeal came out of the girl's mouth, startling James. "You got me tickets to see him live?!" She screamed out. "Thank you so much! Oh my God babe, I'm about to cry!" James felt his heart sink, as something occurred to him. His sister sounded kind of happy with the asshole. It's not up to him if they should break up or not, his sister's happiness is much too important than him ridding of their relationship just because the boy picks on James. He can't do that to her. He would never do that to her.

With a sigh, James walked back to his room a feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach. He almost made a mistake by putting his feelings in front of his sister's. Some brother he is. 

As he walked through the door frame, James looked out his window and saw eyes staring back. Huffing out a laugh, James closed his door and walked to his window, sliding it up a small bit to allow his furry friend in. "Hey Midnight." The cat meowed before jumping into James's arms, her black hair shining in the artificial light of the blonde's room. "It always surprises me how you manage to climb onto and off of the second floor window. You must be magic." James rubbed her head then placed her on the ground, reaching under the bed for the secret bag of cat food. Midnight meowed, pawing at the bag with eagerness. James smiled as he grabbed a handful of the dry food, placing it on one of his spirals as a substitute plate for the feline. The spiral didn't even touch the ground when Midnight attacked the food, her hunger evident in the way she scarfed down the pile of food.

James chuckled as he rubbed her head, not wanting to bother the poor thing too much as she ate. There were days when she would disappear then come back later with a huge appetite, but that didn't bother James at all. She was the pet cat he never had. As he stood up, the homework on his desk was calling out to him, begging him to start his work, but James was too emotionally exhausted to start something that'll just be worth a few points for his daily grade. With his mind made up, his back met the bed sheets, the warmness of the bed making him drowsy. He raised his left hand again, examining it once more as he unraveled the piece of cloth. Although the injury itself was enough to grab his attention, his attention was more on the cloth in between his hands. He unfolded the bandana, holding two opposite corners, seeing the design in the middle. The bandana seemed to be worn out and over used. The skull and gas mask image was fading slightly from the edges and there was a crimson color spread over it. He should probably wash this before he returned it to Adam tomorrow.

As if on cue, Midnight jumped on the bed, preventing him from standing up by laying on his chest, curling in on herself.

_Can't say I didn't try._

After throwing various clothing objects at the switch, the lights were finally off and he was under his bed cover, shielding himself from the breeze of the slightly open window. Midnight was now laying on his pillow, next to his head purring, the faint sound making James drift off to sleep.

******

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_James opened his eyes when he heard the echoing noise. He looked around and found nothing but darkness for miles once more, but this time, James felt dread in his stomach. There was an uneasy feeling and James couldn't understand why. He looked around the darkness and saw movement in the distance. Then there was sounds of distressed splashing that seemed to be coming from the movement._

_Immediately, James ran to the splashing figure, but as he thought he was getting closer, the figure seemed to be getting farther away with every step he took. With all his might, James ran towards the figure, pushing against whatever forces were pulling him back, preventing him from moving. After a while, he finally drew near his destination, taking in the scene before him. James made out the form of two arms sticking out from the floor, the blackness surrounding it looking like a pool of rippling water. "Hang on!" James yelled as he reached his hand in and grabbed up to the elbows, the black oil making it hard for him to get a grip on the arms. "Come on!" He yelled, his hands slipping more and more, feeling as if it were a snake in his hands. With a growl of frustration, he grabbed the hands instead, feeling the cold hands grip his own tightly._

_"I've gotcha!" The blonde pulled the figure out of the oil, seeing the elbows attach to shoulders then to a body then to the rest, the figure's entire body dripping in oil. The figure started coughing out the thick oil from their lungs, clearing their airways of the vile substance. James started hitting their back, hoping he was helping them rid of the goo. "You okay?" As the oil slid off the figure, James made out that it might be a man who was drowning. The man's hands reached up and started clearing his eyes, removing the goo to see his hero. James was rendered speechless when he saw the other's eyes open. A familiar set of brown eyes._

_"Adam?" James's voice cracked on the single word. James reached up and cleaned Adam's face, smudging off the goo to reveal that it was in fact Adam. "Oh my god Adam, what happened?" James asked as he cupped the other boy's face._

_A dark chuckle made James stand and turn quickly, looking for the man who made that sound. James was then shoved behind Adam, who gripped James's arm to keep him in place behind his back. He turned and saw the faceless, oil-covered man from his nightmares was standing next to the pool as Adam stood in front of James as if trying to protect him from the other man._

_In the blink of an eye, Adam was being dragged back into the pool by the oil, the man laughing darkly as Adam struggled to grab onto something, anything to help him prevent himself rom going into the pool. "Tick-Tock boy." The figure said with a raspy voice to James, who ran and made a grab for Adam's outstretched hands, ignoring the man completely and just focusing on the usually flirtatious boy. He was only millimeters away when Adam was submerged into the pool without warning, his cries coming out as gurgles. "No! Please no!" James yelled attempting to reach for the drowning boy, his arms plunging into the goo, reaching with everything he had. The man laughed again before walking towards James. "Say goodbye."_

"NO!" James yelled as he sat up on his bed, the light of dawn spilling in through the opened window. Midnight appeared next to James's panting form, rubbing her body against his ribs as he breathed hard. It took him a few seconds to register the warm tears rolling down his cheeks. His hand reached up to his cheeks, feeling the dampness of the tears on his skin, only for that motion to trigger more tears to fall. Midnight jumped into his lap and started kneading her claws into the quilt as she stared at her owner with her blue eyes.

His alarm went off not too long after, the tune sounding upbeat while the blonde felt like crap. James drew in a shaky breath as he let himself fall back onto the bed, the nightmare replaying vividly in his mind. Nobody else had ever been in that nightmare with him and the monster. He had so many questions, but one stuck out the most.

What does it all _mean_?

*****

The students started coming in as James sat at his desk tapping the Unarmed beat nervously, waiting for his best friend to walk through their first period door. He didn't show up to the area they usually hang out at before class started, so he was hoping his friend would be here today. Luck seemed to be on his side today, seeing as TJ walked in last minute, staring at the ground as he walked to his desk next to James. The boy didn't even glance at James as he took his seat. The pledge was announced minutes later then class officially began after announcements were over.

"Buenos dias." A perky voice called out from the front of the class. "Buenos dias Profe." The class responded back to the teacher in a dull tone. "El objective de hoy es simple, nomas tienes que buscar un companero y hablarle a ellos en espanol sin hablar ingles." Almost all of the class groaned, including James and TJ. Did they really have to talk all period in Spanish and not in English? Like at all? That seems really cruel.

"Ay Profe, porque?" Someone started whining, wanting to know the reason behind the teacher's cruel motive. "Ahpapapa!" The teacher motioned a zipper on her lips, telling the student to be quiet. "Orale! Y si oigo uno de ustedes hablando en ingles, te voy a quitar puntos de tus grados!" James groaned and hit his head against his desk repeatedly. Is she really taking away points if she hears someone speak in English? What a female dog. A pregnant female dog at that.

When James first came to this school, the only Spanish words he knew were 'taco' and 'pendejo', but now he knew so much more since he had TJ as a partner. Although James has gotten way better in knowing Spanish, he was more self conscious about how he spoke it.

James turned to his best friend, an apology ready to come out of his lips, but then his teacher's threat popped up, and she is not a woman of empty threats. "Lo siento, TJ," James apologized, his Spanish not as smooth as the other students, his pronunciations sounding more English than Spanish. "Lo siento si te ofendí de alguna manera y si ya no quieres ser mi amigo, está bien, pero solo quiero que sepas que realmente lamento lo que dije y-"

"Te perdono pendejo," TJ forgave with a laugh not letting James finish his apology, "Pero por favor, dime cuando algo te esta pasando o si tienes una problema con algo o alguien. Habla con migo, okay?" He asked, his voice in a whisper, trying to not let other's listen to their private conversation. James nodded quickly, not wanting to upset his friend. "Okay, en tonces, estamos bien?" James asked.

"Si, estamos bien." TJ smiled as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. James let out a breath of relief, happy he has his best friend back without any problem. The blonde relaxed into his seat, feeling the weight leave his shoulders.

"Ah, y no vino tu novio hoy." TJ added as he scrolled through his phone, positive his friend heard him. Not really wanting to argue again, James processed TJ's words. So he's trying to say Adam didn't come in? James reached into his pocket for the bandana, pulling it out and sighing. Not wanting to put it back in his pocket, he neatly folded it then tied it around his left wrist. 

It felt right tied there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Spanish Translation):
> 
> The teacher wanted everyone to find a partner and only talk in Spanish and if she heard anyone speak English she'd take points off everyone's grade.
> 
> Basically James tries to apologize for his actions and even went as far as to tell TJ it was okay if he didn't want to be friends anymore, but TJ quickly jumped in saying he forgave him. He also asked if James could be more honest with him, asking if he would tell him if something's wrong or if something's bothering him. TJ and James agreed and they are talking again.
> 
> Then TJ jokingly says "Oh, your boyfriend didn't come in today."


	9. Danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Various days went by and James's knuckles healed completely, not a single trace of the injury was left on his hand. James and TJ had almost forgotten about their little quarrel. You could say their bond was much stronger than a petty argument. As for Hunter the Dickwad, he has recently gotten... worse with James.

James rushed into the doors of the gym rubbing the bruise that Hunter left on his stomach, and fixed his glasses as they slipped down his nose with every rushed step he took. Usually James wore contacts, but in the morning as he was applying them, Faith banged on the bathroom door, startling James. He jumped and lost grip of the contact, watching helplessly as it fell down the drain. Luckily enough instead of wandering around school blindingly, he had his glasses that he rarely used. Today Hunter had raised his hand to scare James, which resulted in triggering the blonde. The boy had been jumpy because of recent nightmares involving the oil thing and a specific boy he hasn't seen recently. Because of the nightmares, the blonde dodged the bully's hand and punched the boy before kicking his legs out from under him, making the bully fall in the hallway. That led to the bigger boy getting angrier, punching James repeatedly in the stomach, causing bruises to form.

James passed by the rowdy P.E. boys, who were dressed out and playing a game of basketball. One team was shirtless while the other team wore the school shirts and the rest of the students sat on the bleachers, waiting for their turn on the court. As James passed. he noticed Tyler was mostly checking out the shirtless players rather than paying attention to the game itself. The other boy met his eyes and began to fan himself jokingly, which made the blonde snicker under his breath.

The squeaking of their sneakers was what was mostly heard in the game and the occasional basketball hitting the backboard. James's walking slowed down as he watched his classmates play and yell at each other about something along the lines of 'cheating'.

"Rallison!" Coach Roth boomed, making the boy come to a halt, his sneakers squeaking against the gym floor. "Come here." Roth said as he walked away from the group of benched students, none of them paying any attention to their coach leaving as they were all invested in the game. James walked to his coach, not really knowing what he as about to say. It was rare when the coach talked to James really, so this is beyond unexpected.

"Sorry I'm late coach." James said as he approached the older man, his green eyes piercing into James's soul. "Look, I know you don't mean to be late kid, but attendance is on my ass, and I'm sorry in advance." The coach stood up a bit straighter. "James, you have after school detention today for three hours." The blonde felt his eyes widen at the news he was just given. He's never once received detention, even in his other schools. "But Coach, today is a Friday, I have plans." James tried to reason with him. The coach raised his hand to cut off whatever James was going to add, making him feel small. "Yeah, I know kid, I do too. Do you really think I'd want to run detention when I could be at home hanging with my baby brother and celebrating his proposal?" Roth sighed before rubbing his face slightly.

"Look buddy, let's make a deal." James adjusted his backpack strap, listening to whatever his coach was about to say. "You've been coming in late since the very first day, so I can't exactly ask if you can be on time, but all I'm asking is you at least attempt to be earlier. No more coming in ten or fifteen minutes late anymore. And in exchange, I won't mark you tardy every single time. Deal?" James didn't hesitate in the slightest to nod his head in agreement.

"Good, so go in and change, and don't forget about today or I'll be forced to add two more days." James nodded before heading to the locker rooms, sulking on his lost Friday. He pushed past the door, stopping in his tracks when he smelled something nasty in the air. He began coughing as he walked to his locker, his eyes wandering around the lockers. "Ah, there's my angel! I was wondering if you were ever going to show up." James felt his heart race just by hearing that voice. "Adam!" He exclaimed incredulously, making the other boy smirk at the blonde. James quickly placed his arm behind his back, attempting to subtly take off the bandana he's been using for the past week. Thanks to the rows of short lockers, Adam (hopefully) wouldn't be able to notice his movements. With the object curled in his hand, James hastily stuffed it in his back pocket, his gaze never leaving Adam's. Since the last time James saw Adam many days ago, he had gotten his sides trimmed, making the hair look neater than it did before. 

"Want a hit?" Adam asked, holding out a lit cigarette in between his fingers to the blonde.

"Um, no thanks. Isn't it against the rules to be smoking indoors?" James asked as he walked over to his locker, messing with his combination knob. Adam wrapped his lips around the cigarette and let a smirk crawl onto his face as the dangerous chemicals seeped into his lungs. "I'm pretty sure this is the tamest rule I've ever broken, Princess." Adam teased before blowing out the smoke from his mouth away from the blonde's air bubble. "Anyways enough about me." He crushed the cigarette into the bench before flicking it away in a random direction, not caring where it landed. "I came in today to check on you." James felt his cheeks grow hot as he grabbed his gear. He turned back to the other boy, watching as he rested his elbows on his knees and placed his head in his hand.

"Check on me? For what?" James wondered as he pulled off his shirt, used to having other guys around him as he changed. He also hoped that removing his shirt would cover up the blush invading his cheeks.

The blonde threw the shirt into his locker when he felt Adam grab his left wrist, right above where the bandana would've been. "How is it doing?" Adam asked as he looked at the skin of James's knuckles. James felt that Adam's hand was more callused than the last time he felt them, not that he was saving the memory of Adam's skin touching his own. "It healed fully like three days after the incident, can't even tell it was there." James prayed to whatever God was up there that Adam couldn't feel his rapid pulse in his wrist. 

"Wow, you have an amazing healing system, only a few days? Usually cuts that deep take weeks for it to go away, even then it would've left a small scar or a dark mark. You're right, you wouldn't be able to notice." Adam's eyes trailed up James's arm all the way until his eyes landed on the creases of the other boy's pale chest. There was a bit of dark blonde hair scattered around on his chest and his navel area. Adam's eyes stopped when they reached the only mark that littered his otherwise flawless chest. James's birthmark. The boy studied it for a bit, the stare making James feel slightly uncomfortable.

Adam shook his head and released the blonde's wrist, letting him continue to dress out for his class. James changed quickly, thankful Adam let him go. 

"Is it too much to ask why you were absent these past couple days?" James asked as he sat next to Adam, tying up his shoes. Adam was quiet for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, "All I can tell you is that it was business related."

"Drug related?" James asked in a soft, quiet voice, praying that that wasn't the case. He didn't know why those words left his mouth.

"Well, yes, some of my clients ask for drugs." Adam mumbled out, no longer looking at the blonde, but rather at the floor. James thought for a moment. The word 'clients' sounded a bit too formal for drug dealing, they usually use 'buyer' or 'customer' even, but never client. Well, from what he's seen in movies and such. "What do you do that requires you to have clients if you're not a dealer?" James asked. 

"Chatty today aren't we?" Adam chuckled. That was all the brunette said, efficiently dodging James's question. James took the hint, and not wanting to do a repeat of last time, he changed the topic. "So why don't I ever see you out in the gym when you are here?"

"Ah. Well you see, David and I have a deal of sorts, and part of the deal includes me not doing any physical work and staying in here." James nodded before a question popped up, "Wait, who's David?"

"David is Coach Roth." Adam laughed, realizing the mistake he made. James wondered what type of deal a student and a gym teacher would have. Then again, he just agreed to a deal with the man mere minutes before even beginning the conversation with the other boy.

"As much as I like talking to you Sweetheart, another part of the deal is to make sure there are no students hanging around in the locker room. So," Adam stopped and cleared his throat. "Begone thot!" He half yelled in an obviously staged deeper voice, his hand gesturing towards the exit. James lost it, of all things he thought Adam was going to say he really did not expect that. His laugh was loud and strong, while his hand was clutching over his injured stomach, his laugh causing a bit of discomfort in his stomach. "I hope you know you have a nice laugh Princess." James's laughter slowed down a bit as he looked Adam in his eyes. Adam's eyes reminded him of a guard dog. The dog might be dangerous and hostile if you are an intruder, but with time, they grow a certain softness the more you get to know them. Right now, James saw some softness in those brown beauties, and it warmed his heart a bit. "I would say the same to you, but I never hear you laugh sadly." James joked. Adam smiled at James, lost in thought before he psychically shook his head. "Alright, go on. Chop chop." James understood what he meant and chuckled.

"Okay okay, I'm going. See you later if I don't see you after class." James decided as he got up from the bench and walked towards the door.

"As flattered as I am that you care Princess, I'm actually not going to Nantoka's class, but I'll be around the school." James pouted at that. He'll have no one to talk to in that God forsaken class. He just might go nuts. "Okay. Well, bye Adam." James mumbled as he walked away from the mysterious boy.

"See ya later Princess."

******

"Hey guys, so I was thinking," the group all turned to Maaz, waiting for whatever proposition he had ready apparently. After James explained the news about getting detention, the group stopped what they were doing to think of a solution. "Since James received detention today," a few eyes turned to James, who all but groaned in annoyance when he thought about how he potentially ruined their 'group night out'. "We should just go glow bowling tomorrow night instead." Maaz looked around his table, waiting for agreements or arguments. Maaz lifted his hand towards his head and disheveled his hair a bit, a nervous tick he picked up apparently.

"I mean that's great Maaz, but remember, Saturday is the busiest time for Brenda's, that's why we chose Friday." Tim offered. Brenda's Fun Place was filled with many types of fun activities, and the group wanted to have a fun night out, outside the school walls. Obviously plans tend to change. "Well, what do you guys think? Seems like a no-go for Brenda's." Maaz asked with his arms resting on the round table. James looked down at his phone as he typed a message to Luke.

[James]:  
 _Hey bro, I got detention after school for being tardy. Can you cover me and tell mom that we're going out or something?_

"How about the movies?" Jaiden suggested, her fingers tapping her cheek as she waited for an answer. "Sounds good. What movie did you have in mind?" James asked as he turned to the brunette, who seemed to be trying to not make a face. That's a step. "I was thinking 'Split Sides'." James's phone vibrated in his hand, signaling he probably got an answer back from his brother.

[Broseph]:  
 _Ooo, you bad boy! Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Where do I pick you up?_

[James]:   
_Idk, wherever_

[Broseph]:  
 _How about the practice deck? I'll park there and wait for you_

[James]:  
 _Alright, that's good. I get out at 8_

"Oh, is that the one with Alexander Calvert and Bryan Dechart?" Beck asked with excitement, her eyes sparkling. "Yes, that's the one." Jaiden confirmed, pointing at Beck then finger gunning her. The group all mumbled in agreement. A movie actually sounded like a good idea, they can always go bowling next time. 

"What's 'Split Sides' about anyways?" Alex asked as he bit off a piece of apple, crunching noisily. Tim smacked him upside his head, quietly reminding him of his manners. Beck grinned ear to ear before starting her explanation of the movie. "In the movie, Bryan goes by the name of Connor Anderson and he is a police officer who has good morals and all that good stuff. Alexander plays a wanted man named Jack Kline who is know for hunting people and killing them in torturous ways then dumping their bodies. So he's identified as a serial killer obviously. I've heard nothing but great things about it so far. And there's many plot twists in it, so its bound to be good. Besides, its Bryan Dechart and Alexander Calvert, what's not to love?" Beck joked.

"Sounds pretty good." James admitted as he remembered something. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the item before folding it up and wrapping it around his wrist. He didn't understand why he hid it and didn't just give it back to Adam, it's not really a big deal to him. But he had a feeling he had to hold it for a little while longer. The group continued making plans about their day tomorrow until the bell rang for them to get to class. Things are looking up for the group.

******

As soon as the clock reached 8 o'clock, Coach Roth seized his button mashing on his laptop and turned to the only student in the borrowed classroom, who sat in a desk while using his phone. Because it was only the two of them, Coach Roth and James grew bored and started talking. Their first topic was about a show called Dr. Sexy then the conversation jumped to the topic of themselves. James talked about his family while Roth talked about his brother, going on and on about how much he loved his little brother. And apparently, Roth started working at Laciest only a few months ago, so the school rules and stuff is still kind of new to him. Their talking led to James actually liking his coach, thinking he's a pretty chill guy for his age. 

"Alright Rallison, you survived my detention hours and now you can go home. Now shoo, I need to order take out for Will as an apology for dipping on him." James laughed as he slung his backpack over his shoulder walking to the front door as the coach pulled out his phone, probably dialing a fast food joint. Just as he stepped out of the doorway, James peaked his head back in and added, "I think you should apologize to your brother with something homemade rather than store bought Coach. From what you've told me about you and your brother, you should eat something that you made. Maybe like your famous hamburgers?" Roth held his phone away from his ear as he thought about it for a second. The green eyed man smiled before clicking the red button on his phone.

"You know what? It has been a while since we ate that, and I'm positive I heard him say he was tired of take out whenever we hang out. I gotta go to the store to pick up a few things." Roth turned to the desk and gathered up his belongings before looking back to the student at the door frame. "Good idea, kid. See you Monday." James just smiled as he turned and left the room, making his way out the building and to the portables, feeling better that he did a good deed. 

The sun had set about forty minutes ago, so the school was surrounded by nothing but darkness now. James started remembering his nightmares as he looked out into the darkness, seeing the faceless man in every dark corner he sees. Quickly shoving the memories to the back of his mind, James continued walking to the familiar deck, hoping he could just go home and not deal with this darkness.

When he arrived at the practice deck, he saw it was an empty lot. His older brother wasn't waiting for him in the family car like he said he would earlier in the day. James looked around the dark area, the only light coming from the distant street lamp far away from where he's standing. He staggered over to the lighted area, still looking around for his brother as he walked.

His search was interrupted when a ringtone went off. James pulled out his phone and saw his brother's name and photo flash across the screen. He clicked the green button and raised his phone to his ear, "Hello?"

"HolyshitI'mSOsorryJames! IforgotthatItoldyoutowaitformeatthepracticedeckandIdidn't-"

"Whoa whoa, Luke, slow down. What happened?" James asked slowly. He heard his brother attempt to control his breathing, evening out his fast breathing pattern. "I'm sorry James. I forgot that I told you to wait for me at the practice deck after your detention. I was talking to the C-O about our next comp and after our conversation, he invited me out for a bite with his boyfriend and I lost track of time. I'm SO sorry." Luke's voice was filled with so much regret, James knew his older brother was telling the truth.

"It's okay Luke, just come pick me up please. You can get me in the pick up area." James breathed out, not wanting his brother to hear the frustration that's building up.

"Yeah, of course, I'll see you in like thirty minutes or less. I'm just leaving IHOP." As Luke hung up the phone, James groaned before making his way to the pick-up area to wait for his brother. The nearest IHOP is on the opposite side of the city, meaning the wait is indeed going to be a while. He groaned and turned back to the direction in which he came from, not excited to go back to the dark. His shoes dragged along the sidewalk, feeling sluggish about walking farther. He didn't really want to suggest the pick up area to Luke, but that was the only place that had a lot of lighting.

During his walk, James felt eyes on him, making him extremely paranoid. The darkness wasn't exactly helping with that either, his anxiety seemed to spike up more now since the nightmares he had basically scarred him. The distance between James and the pick up area seemed to be much farther than he remembered. Suddenly, James heard something that made him stop in his tracks.

Someone was sobbing.

James looked around, searching for the source of the sound. He couldn't see anyone, but the sounds were coming from the far end of the school wall, past a corner. Reluctantly, James made his way towards the voice, following the sounds to the familiar passageway. He was met with the sight of a boy on the floor with his arms hugging his legs tightly, his hooded head resting on his knees. The boy's shoulders went up and down with every sob he let out, each one louder than the previous. James slowly approached the mystery boy. "Hey man, are you okay?"

The boy's sniffling went to nothing as he looked up and met James's eyes. "I am now." The boy said in the coldest voice James had ever heard. He didn't have time to dwell on it before he was shoved to the ground. Shocked, James looked up and saw a group of older-looking guys circling him, all wearing the same sinister expression, along with what seemed to be rope and cloth in their hands. The boy on the ground chuckled before standing up, drawing out his own weapon from within his hoodie. 

"James Rallison. We have orders to give you a message." The boy looked at the others, all while they laughed darkly at the hooded boy's statement. "M-Message?" James asked in a quiet voice, his legs pushing himself away from the sick bastards creating a circle around him. Although he could defend himself well, it was still five to one. The hooded boy laughed before his eyes met the blonde's. "Payback's a bitch." The boys charged forward towards James, the sinister look never leaving their faces. James stood to run but was grabbed by one of the boys, his arms being forced behind his back. 

"Well, what do we have here?" The boy grabbed the blonde's arm, forcing it to be pulled outwards, showing the other goons in the process. "Check it out boys!" He exclaimed, grabbing James's left wrist. The other goons whooped and started laughing out as they all saw the item wrapped around his wrist. "Look's like this one belongs to Adam Ortiz! We hit the jackpot!" James struggled to get his arm out of the boy's grip, but the boy was basically the size of a tank. "Ooo, fiesty one too." He joked before pulling James's hair back, making him bare his teeth and hiss. The goon undid the knot on the cloth before yanking off James's wrist, making the blonde grow angry.

James struggled as he tried to free himself from the iron grip, wiggling and kicking wherever he could, shouting out every insult he can think off, but that only resulted in him getting punched across the jaw and his glasses being thrown off at the same time. Pain ripped through his jaw and a bit of blood started dripping out of his mouth. His bottom lip got cut by his own teeth.

_Yup, that hurt._

Something soft was shoved forcefully into his mouth, muffling the sounds that tried to escape his mouth. He started to yell out for help but was rather worthless thanks to the thing in his mouth. The rope was being tied around his wrists into a knot when he heard a sickening crunch and a groan of pain, making him and the goon freeze. All the members turned and looked in the direction of the sound, and saw one of the members was sitting against the wall, seemingly unconscious. James felt the guy holding his wrists yank him closer to his body. "What the fu-?" The phrase was cut off when someone punched him in the face then kicked him in the stomach, making the brute stagger and fall on his ass, releasing James in the process. James backed away and tried pulling his wrists out of the knotted rope, but to no avail. 

The only thing that can be heard was skin hitting skin and many groans/moans of pain. James tried his best to see without his glasses, but all he saw was blurry dark shapes throwing punches and making noises. Slowly, he tried to walk away, praying nobody would notice the tall, lanky white blonde try to escape the scene. 

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice asked. James jumped when he felt hand grab his arms and pull him away from the fight. After being pulled away, James was slammed face first into the brick wall of the school, his forehead hitting quite hard as well, making him see stars. "I'm not quite done with you." The voice said. James remembered that voice, it was the hooded boy's voice. The blonde squirmed even more than before, hoping that this was all just a bad dream. James heard him chuckle then something thin was against his throat, and he immediately stilled. "Ah, that's better." James all but whimpered when he felt the blade dig into his skin, breaking the skin slightly. 

As quick as he felt the blade appear, it disappeared, and so did the hands of the hooded boy. He turned and made out two silhouettes fighting, one being his captor and the other being unknown. He heard a final sound of someone being punched then a body falling onto the concrete floor. The only thing that could be heard was jaggered breathing and the soft wind of the night. The other opponent approached James before grabbing his wrists. James was squirming too much for him to notice how soft the person grabbed him compared to the other idiots. He did notice, though, the person put something between the ropes then felt it rubbing against it. James stopped altogether when the ropes fall from his wrists. 

A bit of guilt passed through James when he realized the person was just trying to help. A soft, cool hand held the side of his warm face, forcing him to look at the other person. All he made out was the shape of a boy in a black jacket. A familiar set of glasses slid onto his nose and everything came into focus. The boy standing in front of him and still holding the side of his face was a boy a patch of black hair sticking out from under the backwards snapback and soft brown eyes that made James feel safe. It's only then when he notices. Adam was his hero.

"You okay?" Adam asked in his deep voice, his hand sliding onto James's forehead, his cool fingers feeling around for something. James's tongue felt heavy as he just looked at his hero in awe. "Princess, you doing good? Your forehead is a bit hot and red. Use your words." James did everything in his power to respond, but words didn't seem to want to work at the moment.

"Seriously, are you okay? Nod your head for yes or shake for no." By then, Adam had both of his hands searching for injuries all over James's body, both of them stopping to rest on either sides of his face. James nodded before clearing his throat, "Yes, I'm f-fine."

"Oh, you can speak. Good. Well, you got a busted lip, some rope burns on your wrists and a minor cut on your forehead." Adam said as he dropped his hands back to his sides then walked over to the unconscious boy on the ground. He picked the boy up by his jacket then dragged him to the nearest light pole, along with binding his wrists together with some rope. James then snapped out of his trance when he realized something.

"Wait a minute. Are you okay?! You just got into a fight with a lot of guys!" He rushed over to the boy but didn't dare to touch him. The boy simply rolled his shoulders slowly and popped his neck as if to check himself. "I'm fine. They fought like little bitches." He said with a shrug. James couldn't help but laugh softly. Even at times like this Adam couldn't stay serious. They both fell into silence as they just stared at each other. 

"I, uh, I'm," James tried to start, but the words didn't seem to be forming all that well. Adam looked at James, a silent question in his eyes. James surged forward and wrapped his arms around Adam's neck in a tight hug. Adam stilled for a few seconds but draped his arms loosely around James's waist. "Thank you, Adam. For-For saving me."

"Its no problem... Gotta save my damsel in distress."

James burst out laughing before pushing Adam away playfully. "Nope, you ruined the moment." James saw the wide smile that was on Adam's face, a sight James thought he's never see. "So you admit there was a moment going on?" Adam asked in a teasing tone.

Before James could respond, a car pulled up in the front and honked twice. James turned and the familiar family car parked under the street light. He turned and was shocked when he saw Adam let his neutral face show up again. "I got to go already." James said timidly, not really wanting to leave his hero alone now. "I can see that. See you tomorrow Princess." Adam nodded before turning away.

"Wait!" Adam stopped and faced the blonde, who was now red from his sudden outburst. "Um, you, um, want a ride home? I mean, it's late and stuff." Adam smirked at James's blushing face, loving how James is stumbling on his speech. "As much as I appreciate the offer," Adam started as he reached into his pocket. "I drove here." Adam finished as he jiggled his keys. James saw that his keys had a set of dog tags hanging next to the keys.

"Of course you did." James felt his face heat up more. Adam smirked before looking past James, his eyes going back to the cold look he always wore. "They're waiting for you over there. You gotta go," James glanced back to his brother then back to his hero before he sighed softly. 

"Yeah. I'll see you Monday then. Or whenever you come in." James mumbled as he turned towards where his brother was waiting.


End file.
